Ontario close to final Peel Region plan that could come with a cost for Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon

Taxpayers in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon are only a few weeks or months away from learning how the now-scrapped dissolution of Peel Region might impact their pocketbooks.

Ontario’s Minister of Housing Paul Calandra says the province is nearly ready to release the details of its walked-back breakup of the Region of Peel that would have left Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon as stand-alone municipalities, the ministry confirmed in a statement to INsauga.com.

The updated plan will see each of the three Peel municipalities pick up the tab for their own roads and waste collection, while water and sewage services for Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon would be run by a new provincial agency, according to Global News.

The Region of Peel would still oversee social services like child care, as well as Peel Regional Police and paramedics.

The original plan to breakup the municipalities was a promise Ontario Premier Doug Ford made to former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion on her deathbed – a vow the premier broke after Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and others raised concerns the plan could result in a 70 per cent tax increase.

Instead, Calandra “recalibrated” the split to transfer regional services like roads, waste management and water away from the region – a move local politicians say will still lead to higher taxes.

Brown hasn’t been a steadfast supporter of the split but said has in favour of reducing duplicate departments at both the city level and at the region. The mayor said last week he is “pleased” with the work that’s gone on behind closed doors that will “make sure what’s done best at the region stays at the region and what can be done more effectively on the local level be done at a local level,” the mayor told Global.

INsauga.com has repeatedly reached out to Brown for comment but no response was received.

A five-person board was appointed in 2023 to guide the three municipalities through the dissolution of Peel, but the board is now down to four after chair John Livey “voluntarily resigned…to pursue other opportunities” some nine months after the board was given new marching orders.

Board member Tracey Cook replaced Livey as chair, and the board has reportedly briefed all three Peel Region mayors on their recommendations.

The province said those embargoed details will be made public “over the coming weeks and months,” and that “discussions with the municipalities and the region are ongoing.”

Prior to the board’s updated mandate, Brown called the dissolution a “financial train wreck” due to an estimated $1.31 billion cost to the city and a massive tax hike, pointing to shared services like water treatment, waste disposal and emergency services.

Back in January the Region of Peel said it expected the board to out forward its recommendations in the spring.