Todd Letts believes that Brampton is perhaps “Ontario’s best asset” for future job growth thanks to a large expanse of developable industrial land unmatched in the GTA and a highly-skilled workforce.
That’s why the executive director of the Brampton Board of Trade is quickly frustrated when he talks about the “dysfunction” that has plagued the city council in recent months, whether meetings are repeatedly canceled due to lack of a quorum, allegations of corruption involving a high-ranking city employee or the particularly public power struggle that took place after a decision by five council members to preemptively and illegally fill a vacant position.
“I hope that whoever is mayor after Oct. 24 can bring the council together and focus on creating jobs,” Letts told CP24.com this week when asked about a municipal election that is now precisely a month away. . “Time is up for the City of Brampton corporation and its dysfunction to be a drag on prosperity.”
Brampton is the fastest growing city in Canada, with its population increasing by more than 10 percent in the last five years alone.
But Letts said the city is falling short of its potential in large part because of infighting within the city council.
That infighting has worsened since June, when Patrick Brown was kicked out of the federal Conservative leadership race and a rift emerged between his supporters on the council and a group of four councilors critical of his leadership.
Those councilors eventually issued a series of press releases alleging wrongdoing and at one point even called on the RCMP and the province to investigate Brown’s financial dealings within the council, claiming that he had attempted to “time up a series of investigations.” ordered”. by the Brampton City Council.
Brown has maintained that he has done nothing wrong.
“The business community is quite disappointed by the dysfunction. It has consequences and the consequences are delays in getting developments approved,” Letts told CP24.com. “Look, Brampton continues to be Ontario’s best asset for future jobs and future taxes. It’s a valuable part of the province, but it’s underperforming because of dysfunction in the council and the business community has clearly said ‘we’ve had enough’ and clearly ‘enough is enough’.”
Complainant among six candidates for mayor
The race to become Brampton’s next mayor is shaping up to be one of the most contentious contests in GTA, with a whistleblower who has made allegations of corruption and mismanagement against senior staff expected to be one of Brown’s main challengers for the position.
Nikki Kaur is a Brampton city employee who was fired and eventually reinstated after making a series of allegations in an email to staff and members of the media in April 2021, many of which involved then-managing director David Barrick.
Kaur also accused Brown of improperly directing her to help with Peter McKay’s failed 2020 federal Conservative leadership campaign.
She bills herself as a candidate who can “clean up” city hall and end the infighting once and for all, but has yet to launch a platform with her vision for the city; her campaign team says that she will arrive this weekend. .
“I really thought that once my allegations came to light, there would be something substantial that would change, but nothing changed; in fact, it got even worse,” Kaur told CP24.com this week as he discussed his decision to run. “Taxpayers work very hard and our community needs a leader to stand up for them. He is not a leader who will look for a bigger, better job at the first opportunity he sees.”
Well-known conservative strategist involved in the Kaur campaign
Kaur’s campaign has already attracted a significant amount of media attention.
Much of that has revolved around the presence of conservative strategist Nick Kouvalis, who has worked on Mayor John Tory’s last three mayoral campaigns and served as an adviser to Doug Ford and former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Kouvalis has been particularly vocal on Twitter, recently calling Brampton City Hall an “absolute disaster” and blaming much of the dysfunction on Brown.
He has also made several personal attacks on Brown’s character.
CP24.com asked Kaur, who is a public defender, if the tone of some of the criticism made her uncomfortable, but she stuck to the nitty-gritty.
“I agree with that. The reason I agree is that I’ve seen it firsthand,” he said.
For his part, Brown told CP24.com the council functioned well for “three and a half years” under his leadership, only to be plunged into chaos more recently.
But he said he’s optimistic the issues have been resolved, noting the council has been meeting regularly since the filing of a motion allowing the city to deduct pay for members who miss five or more meetings in a row.
“For three and a half years it went pretty well,” he said, rejecting suggestions that the dysfunction at Brampton City Council would continue if he was given a second term. “We passed our budgets unanimously, we got our transit plan passed unanimously, and in Brampton, a city that has historically had divided councils, that was unheard of, all these unanimous votes.”
Polls point to a big lead for Brown
Most of the polls that have been released so far point to a sizable lead for Brown in his bid for re-election as mayor of Brampton.
Speaking to CP24 about his decision to run again following his ejection from the Conservative leadership race in June, Brown said there were “many victories” from his first term that he is proud of, including a planned $1 billion expansion. of Peel Memorial. Hospital and confirmation that the Metropolitan University of Toronto would open a new medical school in Brampton.
But more than anything, he said he’s proud to be a relentless supporter of the city of more than 600,000 people and would like to continue to do so as mayor.
“I want to lead a Brampton that is strong, that is proud, that is resilient and stands up for itself and that is what I tried to do,” he said. “When GO Train service was cut, I did a GO Train press conference and we got our service back. You know, we did things that were a little bit different, a little bit unique. During COVID-19, when we weren’t getting enough shots, I stood up and fought for them until we got our shots. I highlighted to the country that we had a higher percentage of essential workers and of course we had a higher positivity rate because we were the ones holding the supply chain together. I want to do another four years so I can keep fighting for the best interests of Brampton.”
The other Brampton mayoral candidates include Vidya Sagar Gautam, Prabh Kaur Mand, Tony Moracci and Bob Singh.
Three of the city’s 10 boroughs have no incumbents and will have new councilors after Oct. 24.
This is the first in a series of stories taking a closer look at the mayoral election campaigns in GTHA. Next week CP24.com will have a story about the race in Toronto. Voters head to the polls on October 24.