[URBAN NOTE] "Mississauga wants out, but saving Peel is the most appealing option"

[rfmcdonald]

Royson James of the Toronto Star thinks Peel Region's municipal federalism the best solution to the area's problems.

To the outside world it’s a match made in heaven, a picture-perfect, four-decades-old municipal union that garners awards and praise for government efficiency and excellence.

But internally, Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon are locked in an intractable civic conflict that threatens to break up the Region of Peel.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie wants out, taking her nearly 800,000 residents with her, to create a single autonomous city like Toronto. She’s tired of subsidizing her siblings.

Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey wants in — but only if her more than 600,000 residents get more power. Canada’s fastest growing city could reach 1 million by 2041. It’s Brampton’s turn to rise on the collective wealth of the GTA’s second most powerful region.

Both mayors consider tiny, rural Caledon and its more affluent, horsey crowd — population 70,000 — a fiscal drain and urban nuisance. Caledon pays 5 per cent of the freight, has 5 per cent of the population, but locks down 21 per cent of the votes at regional council.