Our City, Our Future: Province Grants Mississauga’s Request for Independence

Today, the Government of Ontario announced its decision to dissolve the Peel Region and make Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon independent, single-tier cities. For many decades, the Cities of Mississauga and Brampton and the Town of Caledon have operated within a regional governance model. Today’s announcement follows many years of advocacy by Mississauga, and will give the City greater control over its decision-making and the ability to focus on its own priorities.

“We’ve known for a long time that Mississauga could always stand on its own two feet and after years of advocating of becoming an independent city, today Mississauga is finally whole,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “I’d like to sincerely thank the Government of Ontario, Premier Ford and Minister Clark for listening to Mississauga’s requests and doing what’s right. With today’s announcement, we will be able to deliver faster, better and more integrated decisions and services, especially in land use, transportation planning and financial services. We are moving in the right direction. Mississauga is a vibrant, diverse and growing city that can now make its own decisions. We have a separate identity that is worth protecting and a promising future ahead. Today’s decision is one I know former Mayor Hazel McCallion would be very proud of.”

In February, Mississauga City Council unanimously passed a resolution reaffirming its desire to be a stand-alone, single-tier municipality and to separate from the Peel Region. Today, the province announced that a Transition Board will be appointed to facilitate the dissolution of the Peel Region, with all changes made by January 1, 2025. More details on the transition will be available in the days and weeks ahead.

“Our first priority is to ensure our residents continue to receive the services that they need and rely on, even as we work through this transition”, said Shari Lichterman, City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer. “We will work cooperatively with the province, the Transition Board, Peel Region, the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon to sort out the terms of separation in the months to come. In the meantime, I would like to reassure staff at both the City and the Region that we will support them and that we appreciate the important work they do for our community.”

The Peel Region currently manages several services such as water and waste water, waste collection, policing, paramedics services, Peel Housing and public health. How these services will be operated in the future will be part of the discussions. Mississauga is committed to continuing to deliver these services with no disruption during the negotiations.

For more information about today’s announcement, and to learn more about Mississauga’s position, visit mississauga.ca/ourcityourfuture. To learn more about the vibrant City of Mississauga, watch this video.

BACKGROUND
Mississauga is the third largest city in Ontario and the seventh in Canada with a population approaching 800,000. It currently has the second highest GDP in the province at more than $52 billion. For the past 19 years the City of Mississauga has been awarded a AAA credit rating for its strong track record of financial management. The regional government system was created in the past to support smaller municipalities with costly services and infrastructure needs, which would have been difficult to sustain using their own tax base.

Tags

• Regional Governance/ Independence