Peel Region won't be dissolved, but it could look a lot different if the Ford government follows the recommendations of a report from a panel struck to decide its future.
In a draft report that's expected to be submitted to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing on Friday, the board's report will recommend the province download waste collection (but not waste processing) and regional road maintenance from Peel Region to the municipalities themselves — Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon — according to a source with knowledge of the report.
The report will recommend the province stagger the downloading according to how ready each municipality is to take on the responsibility — Mississauga will likely be good to go right away, while Caledon may need some time.
Another big-ticket item is water and wastewater infrastructure — an issue the Ford government has been focusing on of late, since many municipalities are seeing their homebuilding aspirations bottlenecked by faltering or nonexistent plants.
Responsibility should transition from Peel Region to a provincially regulated utility, the board's report will recommend. The shift would help with financing projects, increasing oversight through independent board members, and providing transparency around rate-setting, the source said.
"With a utility, every time rates have to change, you have folks that can come in on intervener status, and make a case, or argue, or basically hold the utility to account in terms of justifying its rate change decisions," they said. A municipally owned corporation (another option considered by the board) wouldn't have that same transparency, they noted.
The source said the Peel transition board report's recommendations line up with many of those of the Canadian Urban Institute, which released a paper this week estimating that each new home costs an average of $100,000 in infrastructure, with about half of that coming from water and wastewater costs.
Land-use planning will be a minor part of the report, since it's largely taken care of by Ontario's Bill 23, which indicated many regions would lose planning authority, including Peel. The board's report will recommend a more "granular" approach for how the province should direct Peel to implement the bill, including what positions need to be moved.
Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Paul Calandra's calendars show he's met regularly with the transition board since assuming the cabinet role last September.
If implemented, the changes would leave Peel Region to handle public health and some social services — a far reduced scope compared to now, although the board's report will make no recommendation on the future size of the council, the source said.
Filing the report is the easy part, the source said. Implementing it will take much longer. The source said they weren't sure the transition board will stick around to oversee it.
While the board plans to submit its draft report on Friday, the final report is due by the end of July, giving the Ford government time to mull over its recommendations and potentially return for the fall legislative sitting with a bill to implement some or all of the board's suggestions.
Last year, the Ford government fast-tracked a bill to dissolve Peel Region but cancelled that decision in December after Brampton and Caledon cried foul, alleging the split would lead to higher taxes. Mississauga was always in favour of the divorce.
Instead of giving recommendations on Peel-less solutions to taxes, finances, staff and police, the transition board was told instead to figure out how service delivery could be optimized "including land-use planning, servicing, roads and waste management."
—With files from Charlie Pinkerton
