Regional Municipality of Peel

History

The Region of Peel was created by the government of Bill Davis in 1974 from the former County of Peel, and was legislated to provide community services to the (then) rapidly urbanizing area of south Peel County (now Mississauga and Brampton).

Peel County (and therefore, Region) are named after Sir Robert Peel, the nineteenth-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Senior administrators

Notable government decisions

Seat assignment controversy

Seats on Peel Regional council are not assigned to member municipalities according to population or tax contributions, and this has produced considerable controversy within the region.

Mississauga currently comprises about 62 per cent of the region's population and says it contributes 66 per cent of the taxes, but had been assigned 10 of the 21 council seats (or 48 per cent) distributed among the municipalities, with Brampton receiving six and Caledon five. In June 2005, the provincial government passed legislation that will revise the composition of the council. Beginning in the 2006 municipal elections, one additional seat will be assigned to Brampton and two additional seats will be assigned to Mississauga, giving Mississauga 12 of the 24 seats assigned to municipalities. These numbers do not include the regional chair, who is appointed by council members.

These changes are the result of a provincially appointed impartial arbitrator who noted:

Regional councilors, whether or not they also wear an area (local) hat, represent all taxpayers in that region...no one area municipality has a majority of regional councillors. This is also why Mississauga's claim for two more regional representatives was seen as vexing - Mississauga would then have a majority at the regional level. Mississauga magnified the control issue by complaining of a historic underrepresentation given that a majority of taxpayers in Peel reside and have resided within Mississauga .. [I] recommend a continuation of a structure that denies any one area municipality a majority at the region.

Mississauga council, led by former mayor Hazel McCallion, has argued that Peel Region is an unnecessary layer of government which costs Mississauga residents millions of dollars a year to support services in Brampton and Caledon. Mississauga council unanimously passed a motion asking the Province of Ontario to separate Mississauga from Peel Region and become a single-tier municipality, arguing, among other things, the need to keep property tax dollars within the city of Mississauga for the good of the future of the City.

Opponents of Mississauga's position, including former Brampton mayor Susan Fennell, have argued that from the 1970s through the 1990s, Mississauga was the chief beneficiary of Peel's infrastructure construction projects — funded by taxpayers in all three municipalities — and it is now Brampton's turn to benefit, as it is growing faster than Mississauga, which is mostly built-out. As well, they have argued that common infrastructure, such as waste and water services, would be more efficiently managed at a regional level.

Services

The region is responsible for the services and infrastructure related to water delivery and wastewater treatment, waste collection and disposal, some arterial roads, public health, long-term care centres, Peel Regional Police, Peel Regional Paramedic Services, planning, public housing, paratransit, judicial and social services. Other municipal functions are provided by the three local-tier municipalities. These responsibilities have changed over time, as functions have been uploaded and downloaded to and from the provincial and regional levels, as directed by the Province of Ontario.

Law enforcement

Education

Education in the Region of Peel is primarily available from taxpayer-funded public schools (secular) and separate schools (Catholic) in both the English and French languages.

Schools in Peel are managed by four school boards: the Peel District School Board (English public), the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (English separate), the Conseil scolaire Viamonde (French public), and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud (French separate).

Other services

Emergency medical services provided by Peel to the region's municipalities:

Peel Regional Paramedic Services

Formerly administered by the province, now in the hands of the region.

Child Care

Day care centres are operated for residents in Peel:

Long Term Care

Facilities are for seniors and others with long term health needs:

Social Housing

Peel is the largest landlord in the Region. Its non-profit housing company, Peel Living, is one of the largest in Canada.

Public Works

Peel manages the regions public works needs including:

TransHelp

The Region of Peel's unique transportation service for people with disabilities, Transhelp was formerly run for Mississauga Transit and Brampton Transit but is now operated solely by the Region.

Shopping

Major shopping centres located in Peel Region include:

Highways

Seven 400-Series Highways border or pass through Peel Region. These freeways are among the busiest and most modern of Ontario, mostly constructed since the 1970s, and have contributed significantly to the rapid growth of the Region. One of the welcome signs of Brampton has the slogan "All roads lead to Brampton" and shows six 400-series numbers (401, 403, 407, 409, 410, 427).

400-series freeways

Other highways

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census, 50.61% of Peel's population have English as mother tongue; Punjabi is the mother tongue of 8.92% of the population, followed by Urdu (3.84%), Polish (2.68%), Portuguese (2.29%), Tagalog (2.24%), Italian (2.09%), Spanish (2.08%), Arabic (1.96%), and Hindi (1.50%).