They are certainly not comrades at arms. Recently Toronto Star writer Martin Reg Cohn wrote that the cancellation of the splitting up Peel region into the stand-alone municipalities of Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon was cancelled at the behest of Brampton mayor Patrick Brown. That would be assuming that Ford and Brown, both conservatives, are bosom buddies. They are not.
If anything, the former Ontario conservative leader Patrick Brown hates premier Ford for denying him the opportunity to run for Peel County chair in 2018. He had to settle for the mayoralty in Brampton instead. The only thing the two conservatives might agree on is that they are both afraid of Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie, who will soon be moving into her new role as leader of the Ontario liberals.
If anything, Brown deeply resents Ford’s easy trip into the premier’s office in Brown’s place. At least Crombie’s target is Ford’s job at Queen’s Park. She has other reasons to be appalled at Brown and his shenanigans.
It was the panel of conservative appointees who were supposed to help the three municipalities in Peel County to come to a new arrangement. Somebody must have told them of the complaints about Brown in Brampton. Instead of doing their job, the panel told the premier that the split would cause too many problems for the three municipalities, such as higher municipal taxes, and was not worth it. If they had been telling the truth, they might have also said they did not want to spend the next couple years fighting with Mr. Brown.
One of the complications in the separation of the three municipalities was the water supply for Brampton came from Mississauga. If Brampton paid for a stand-alone water system, it would take a major increase in municipal taxes. The separation of the two municipalities would lower Mississauga taxes and put the water costs where they belong. Paying higher municipal taxes in Brampton could be balanced in part if Mississauga could stop paying towards Brampton’s water supply.
There are many other concerns but the panel of conservative appointees did not waste their time in dumping the job.
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