Overview

The Government of Ontario announced the dissolution of Peel Region and the establishment of a transition board as part of the Hazel McCallion Act (Peel Dissolution), 2023, which received Royal Assent on June 8, 2023.

As per the Act, work is underway for Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon to become independent single-tier municipalities on January 1, 2025.

The municipalities that make up Peel Region currently have approximately 1.5 million residents and are expected to grow to over 2 million residents by 2041. This work will ensure continuity and efficiency at the local level to deliver on shared provincial and municipal priorities such as building 1.5 million new homes by 2031 to address the housing supply crisis.

Peel Region Transition Board

Five members have been appointed to a transition board that will make confidential recommendations to the government on a range of restructuring matters to ensure that all affected municipalities, their residents, and their employees are respected and treated in a fair and equitable manner and that there is continuity of services.

The members of the board bring a range of experience across the public and private sectors, including:

  • municipal government and administration
  • policing
  • business law and business management
  • infrastructure delivery
  • the provincial and federal governments

The transition board is tasked with helping to ensure that all affected municipalities, their residents and employees are respected and treated in a fair and equitable manner. The advice of the board will help ensure the continuation of high-quality local services without interruption during the transition period and into the future. The board will help ensure financial sustainability throughout the dissolution process and its recommendations will help inform government decisions that may be required to implement the restructuring.

Duties of the Peel Region Transition Board

As per the Act, the transition board will provide recommendations with respect to:

  • winding down the financial operations of the Regional Municipality of Peel
  • transferring assets of the Regional Municipality of Peel
  • assigning liabilities, debt and other financial obligations of the Regional Municipality of Peel
  • employment matters, including pension and benefit obligations
  • the allocation, governance, use and control of services provided by the Regional Municipality of Peel, including whether joint municipal service boards or other entities should be established or other shared servicing arrangements would be advisable
  • the impact on any municipality that may be affected by the dissolution of The Regional Municipality of Peel
  • the long-term economic sustainability of the City of Mississauga, the City of Brampton and the Town of Caledon as single-tier municipalities
  • any other matters that the board considers advisable or that the minister may direct

How the board will develop its recommendations

Each municipality has formed a transition team dedicated to this work. As part of the dissolution process, the transition teams will meet regularly with the board and will be guided by four key principles:

  1. Open pathways of communication between members.
  2. Mutual respect between members at all times.
  3. Confidentiality.
  4. Transparent, timely and responsive information and document sharing between members to support facilitated sessions.

The board is also taking a collaborative three-stage approach in determining how to fairly distribute Peel’s services, programs and responsibilities.

Stage 1: Informing decisions

The transition board is retaining subject matter experts and holding weekly meetings with specialized staff from all four municipalities. They will, in principle, determine how to allocate services to Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon or through a joint services arrangement. An initial view on the redistribution of services will be shared with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for input.

Due to the sensitive nature of the matters being discussed, the meetings are confidential. However, the transition board welcomes feedback from other individuals and groups at this stage to help inform the redistribution.

Stage 2: Preparing for dissolution

The transition board will work with Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon – with support from Peel Region staff – to determine how program and service elements (employees, assets and liabilities) will be transferred. This will help the board make recommendations that ensure programs and services continue to be offered to residents, as the Regional Municipality of Peel is dissolved. Interim recommendations will be shared with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for input, with the final report due in summer 2024.

Stage 3: Implementing the recommendations

Once the government has made a decision on the board’s recommendations, they would enact any needed legislation or regulations. Concurrently, the transition board will support the four municipalities as they test systems to ensure the dissolution works smoothly and that local services continue without interruption before, during and after the January 1, 2025 transition.

Your feedback

The transition board would like your feedback on changes affecting Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon during stage 1 of their work. Send us your thoughts on the transition process until December 11, 2023.

This information is being collected to help the Peel Region Transition Board ensure a fair dissolution process that protects local services. Your feedback will be reviewed and considered by the Peel Region Transition Board.

Notice of Collection

By contacting the Peel Region Transition Board (the Board), you may be sharing personal information with the Board.

The Board may use any personal information that you submit, including, but not limited to, your personal opinions and views, name and email address, for the purpose of informing its recommendations respecting the municipal restructuring. The Board may also use your personal information to contact you to clarify your answers, to ask for further information or to inform you of additional opportunities to participate in consultation respecting its recommendations on the municipal restructuring. The Board may also disclose some or all comments or materials, or summaries of them, to interested parties of the Ontario government during and after the consultation.

Your information will not be placed on mailing lists or released to any third party, except as may be authorized by law.

The collection of this information is authorized under the Hazel McCallion Act (Peel Dissolution), 2023.

If you have questions about this collection of personal information, please see the Government’s  Privacy Statement or contact:

Executive Director, Peel Region Transition Board
Address: 40 Dundas Street W., Suite 421
Toronto, ON M5G 2C2
Telephone: 416-417-5931
Email: peeltransitionboard@ontario.ca