From the Star........






McCallion accused of bullying
Mayors object to new legislation
Restructures Peel Region council

KERRY GILLESPIE
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU

As Mississauga's long-time mayor, Hazel McCallion has been called Hurricane Hazel, the queen of sprawl and a feisty fighter.

Yesterday, the mayors of two neighbouring cities added a few more names to the list: schoolyard bully and intimidator.

This increasingly personal fight is over provincial legislation to restructure Peel Region's council.

Second reading of Bill 186 — giving approval in principle — is expected today, with public hearings to follow on Friday.

Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell and Caledon Mayor Marolyn Morrison arrived at Queen's Park yesterday with busloads of people hoping to make an impact on the final day of debate on the legislation.

"This is the result, I am absolutely convinced, of legislation being hastily cobbled together to suit the agenda of one municipality," Fennell told reporters.

"It's time the McGuinty government began asking the citizens of Brampton and Caledon how they want to be governed, not just how the mayor of Mississauga thinks we ought to be governed."

Under the existing system, Mississauga has 10 seats on Peel Region council. Brampton and Caledon, despite their smaller populations, have a combined 11 seats and can vote together to block their bigger neighbour.

The new legislation gives Mississauga 12 seats and Brampton and Caledon combined another 12. A chair elected by council members brings the total to 25.

Fennell and Morrison fear that a pro-Mississauga chair will be elected, giving McCallion effective control over the region.

What McCallion would prefer is getting her city out of Peel Region, which delivers a variety of services, from welfare to roads.

"We're a mature city now and for 30 years we've been propping up the taxpayers of Brampton and Caledon," McCallion said in an interview, adding an independent financial report found that Mississauga could save $32 million a year by getting out of the region.

"We feel the end has got to come. We need the money to handle the needs of our municipality."

Acknowledging that dismantling the region isn't a fight she can win right now, McCallion called the restructuring "progress."

Critics of this restructuring — which ignores the recommendations of a provincially appointed facilitator to give more seats to Brampton — say it is an effort to placate McCallion.

"(McCallion) is acting like a schoolyard bully who has to get their own way or else they're going to take all their marbles and leave," Morrison said.

The Mississauga mayor, never one to pull punches, has been keeping things low key.

"I've stayed away from comments about the mayor of Brampton and the mayor of Caledon. They haven't, but I have and I'm proud of that," McCallion said.

Once the legislation becomes law, likely later this spring, the mayors will have to get along, said Liberal MPP Brad Duguid (Scarborough Centre).

"They'll have to work together for what is in the best interest of Peel Region, not Mississauga or Brampton or Caledon," said Duguid, parliamentary assistant to Municipal Affairs Minister John Gerretsen.

Duguid downplayed the Brampton and Caledon mayors' concerns. "There is nothing dramatic about this at all, it's a slight adjustment to ensure balance in representation."

Mississauga has 62 per cent of the population, and after the restructuring it will still only have 50 per cent of the seats, he said.

Conservative leader and Caledon MPP John Tory questioned whether the government had more in mind than just restructuring Peel Region.

"If the real agenda here is to dismantle Peel Region, the government should be honest ... be straightforward with people," Tory said.

Additional articles by Kerry Gillespie






http://home.eol.ca/~donbar/photo/Jan23-99-Mayor.gif

She looks as mean as she is






KGB

CRIPES!!

I would writhe with terror if I saw that in person.

She's a mayor? /\
Holy hell.
Mayor since 1911?

I've lived in Brampton for a while during college. Wasn't very long, and thank god, what a shithole, Caledon must be worse being a much farther cry from civilization. Screw 'em. They're only whining because what's fair doesn't give them the advantage, which they currently do in the current unfair balance. Mississauga has every right to call the shots in Peel because it is civilization, unlike the others. Close to 2/3rds of the people, that's majority rules. If you don't like it, let them leave. Oh, right, you want to rob Mississauga blind much like the Feds do to Toronto. Screw 'em, again, but in the ass this time. I hate people like that.

I really hope Mississauga gets this and that they can use the power gain to simply kick Peel off their back and become an independing municipality. Mississauga is one of Canada's largest cities, having them part of a subruban region (even though most of Mississauga is suburban in nature, there is notable change and very strong change along the axial corridors on Hurontario South, and Dundas East) is retarded.

You should see Hazel's election results. She gets something like over 90% of the vote consistently (94% in 1997, 92% in 2000, ooooooh, her support is slipping there, she needs to be careful).

"Caledon must be worse being a much farther cry from civilization. "


Actually, it's mostly rural...not really a city in the usual sense...just full of tiny quaint villages and rural estates and farms....a few developments, but nothing even resembling urban. And it's the perfect kind of suburbia...one that isn't very suburban, but rural. Think Connecticut.






"Mississauga has every right to call the shots in Peel because it is civilization"

Well, the whole point of a Region, is that the needs of everybody is met...not that one member gets to call the shots.

This is the reason I think they screwed up by including the area now known as the city of Caledon. Brampton is a lot like Mississauga...just running a little behind them. The Caledon area should be it's own Region or County, and Mississauga and Brampton should be separate single tier municipalites...or possibly both should become a two-tier Region.






KGB

"You should see Hazel's election results. She gets something like over 90% of the vote consistently (94% in 1997, 92% in 2000, ooooooh, her support is slipping there, she needs to be careful). "


When she dies, they could run her corpse in an election, and would probably win.





KGB

KGB's right, part of what is wrong with Peel is that Caledon has 1/10 the population of Mississauga but is as big as Mississauga and Brampton combined. Furthermore, it has half the power Mississauga has on regional council and almost the same power as Brampton, which isn't right. I would not mind Mississauga working more closely with Brampton. They should combine combine transit systems but I doubt that will ever happen now with this dispute going on.

"I would not mind Mississauga working more closely with Brampton. They should combine combine transit systems "


Excactly...those two are on the same track...something like a shared transit agency would be perfect...two quite large suburban cities getting biggger and denser by the minute...as well as many other urban issues they share.

What use is Caledon ever going to have for transit? Zero. It's never going to become urban at all...so why have them involved with such totally opposite cities?

Not to slight Caledon..it's by far my most favorite GTA subueb...if I had the bucks, I would build an estate there in a second....it's gorgeous.






KGB

Close to 2/3rds of the people, that's majority rules.

This is the kind of logic that lets the bigoted masses ban abortion and same-sex marriage.

This is the kind of logic that lets the bigoted masses ban abortion and same-sex marriage.

Um... we are talking about proportional representation on regional council for Mississauga, not abortion or same-sex marriage. What a stupid comparison.

Um... we are talking about proportional representation on regional council for Mississauga, not abortion or same-sex marriage. What a stupid comparison.

Except that the specific line I quoted was about majority rules. When 51% of the people can dictate to the other 49%, that can be a dangerous game.

In the future I'd consider running my posts by you first for your approval, but I suspect we're both too busy for that to work well...

mmmm...well, we are talking about an upper tier regional body here...I would hardly call it "ruling". Mississauga and Brampton are not going to differ a lot on how they see things at that level anyway. Caledon is a different story...it's far different than the other two.

But the problem is still there...and Peel is an oddity, as it is the only regional municipality where the majority of the population resides in only one lower-tier municipality. This is why Peel should not be structured the way it is...two-tiered municipalities exist in their various forms to best suit the people in it, and Peel is just not it currently.

And Miss and Brampton are growing like crazy...they should probably each get single tier municipal deliniation, and Caledon should get absorbed by another region.





KGB

And Miss and Brampton are growing like crazy...they should probably each get single tier municipal deliniation, and Caledon should get absorbed by another region.



Dufferin would seem the logical choice if that were to occur. Don't they already share a riding?

Yea, without much indepth analysis, Dufferin would seem to be the logical choice. I think Caledon is more linked to Brampton, but then again, so is much of Dufferin, so it really wouldn't change much. Orangeville could be the major centre of the new enlarged county.

The recently amalgamated Town of Caledon would have to be de-amalgamated back into a few townships, as part of the county, as if it kept it's current deliniation, it would be too much of a dominant lower tier (and we would have another Peel problem).

Hey...have you ever toured around the Caledon area? It's my favorite GTA suburban area by a huge margin.







KGB

I've only ever been to Etobicoke, where a friend of mine lives, as far as southern Ontatio goes. And I flew, so I didn't catch the surroundings in transit.

Being here in MN though, I'm actually more familar with northern Ontario...Sault Sainte marie, Thunder Bay, Kenora, etc.

I guess I don't see why Caledon would have to disintegrate itself, and moreover, I don't see it being willing to do so just so Mississauga, and to a lesser extent Brampton, can have their way.

I mean, Dufferin (outside of Orangeville) could always combine itself into one large city to solidify its power base. It worked in Brant.