[URBAN NOTE] "In Brampton, a return to Fennell-era dysfunction"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's San Grewal looks at the continuing problems of Brampton.

Bill Davis walked onto the stage in a Brampton banquet hall to introduce the city’s new mayor, as wide-eyed supporters waited to hear their new leader’s vision to rehabilitate an aching city. Linda Jeffrey had just put an end to four painful years under Susan Fennell.

As they circled the dance floor to bhangra music and noshed on samosas, the euphoric crowd could not imagine the painful 18 months that were about to unfold.

It was election night, Oct. 27, 2014.

Her landslide victory over Fennell “sent a clear message that (voters) want a better Brampton . . . We needed real leadership,” Jeffrey said that night, as Davis, the revered former Ontario premier — who knows a thing or two about leadership — looked on.

Brampton had just experienced four years of scandal emanating from the mayor’s office. A series of Star investigations revealed a history of reckless spending by Fennell and her staff; that a private gala in her name raised hundreds of thousands of dollars annually without financial disclosure — including tens of thousands that came from city coffers without council’s knowledge; and that hundreds of city contracts awarded to a close friend of Fennell.

Things, it seems, have not improved.