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Frustration surfaces at meeting
April 29, 2005
- Brampton Guardian
Frustration with a local provincial politician's public silence on restructuring regional government surfaced as community anger during a town hall meeting Wednesday.
More than 60 area residents attended the meeting arranged by Kuldip Kular, MPP for Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale. He organized the public meeting to hear views on a controversial government bill created to increase the number of Peel region councillors.
If passed, Bill 186 would give Mississauga a more powerful voting share on regional council. Municipal politicians fear that power will allow Mississauga councillors to control region decision-making to the benefit of their city and the detriment of Brampton and Caledon.
Currently, regional council is composed of 10 representatives from Mississauga, six from Brampton, five from Caledon and a regional chair appointed by the 21 councillors. The proposed legislation would give Brampton one additional seat on council, while handing the City of Mississauga two additional councillors. The Town of Caledon's representation would remain unchanged.
Passage of the bill appears to be moving swiftly in the Ontario legislature. The proposed bill was introduced April 13. It has already passed first reading and is presently undergoing second reading at Queen's Park.
Following this phase, the bill will go through third reading and receive Royal Assent to become effective for the 2006 municipal election.
Brampton Centre MPP Linda Jeffrey was the first provincial politician to speak publicly against the legislation and commit to voting against it. In an interview with The Guardian Thursday, Brampton West-Mississauga MPP Vic Dhillon said he would also vote against the bill. Kular has yet to publicly declare a stand.
Area residents and municipal politicians want local representatives to oppose the bill at Queen's Park. Dhillon's previous silence and Kular's refusal to state his position has many in the community upset.
Local resident Brian Johnston told Kular his conduct thus far on the issue and at Wednesday's meeting was "unacceptable" as a political representative.
After the legislation was introduced, Kular insisted he wanted to hear constituents' views before taking a position. This hastily organized town hall meeting was an attempt to seek those views.
However, many consider his actions too little and too late.
Residents and city councillors who believe Kular is failing Brampton as a provincial politician greeted his refusal to answer questions at the meeting or state a position with loud criticism.
Mayor Susan Fennell and several city councillors were in the crowd. Some city staff met residents at the meeting hall door and handed out a municipal perspective on the regional governance issue simmering for more than a year at Queen's Park and locally. Along with background information, the literature included a list of blunt questions for the Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale MPP.
While Fennell did not speak publicly, several councillors did.
"You have not done your job in terms of representing Brampton," said Regional Councillor Elaine Moore.
Speakers accused Kular of being out of touch with his community and slow to act, if at all, on their behalf.
"You did not do us the courtesy of coming to our town hall meeting on March 22," Moore said. It was a missed opportunity to gather the information he is now seeking, she added.
Local concerns and views have not changed in the last month, Moore and others suggested.
"You're not leading us. You're hiding from us," said one resident.
Many residents considered the 5:30 p.m. mid-week meeting poorly scheduled for a community in which most work regular 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. jobs. Some also thought there was insufficient community notification of the meeting.
Kular spent the most of the evening under fire. He drew a particularly heavy barrage after reading an unsigned e-mail from a local resident claiming to be supportive of awarding Mississauga more voting power or disbanding regional government. Kular's decision to share this anonymous e-mail turned anger into outrage for many in the crowd who were required to provide a name and address before speaking at the meeting. He later apologized for reading the letter.
Councillors and residents urged Kular to join the ongoing debate at Queen's Park and Jeffrey in voting against the legislation.
Kular promised to publicly announce his position and take a more active role in debate after giving all his constituents a chance to express their views. "I want to listen to the people."
He has another meeting scheduled in Malton Thursday afternoon. Following that meeting, he promised to have a decision and make his stand public. "I will come up with my decision after I have tomorrow's meeting."
Kular said he has not attended ongoing legislative debate because he is more interested in hearing what constituents think than listening to politicians from outside Peel comment on the proposed bill.
"I don't want to listen to the debate of different MPPs who represent different areas," he explained. "I wanted to listen to my constituents."
Some residents left the meeting promising not to vote for Kular or the Liberal party during the next election.
Speakers at the meeting also suggested the government hold public consultation meetings in the affected communities before passing the bill.
Brampton needs your help at this point," said Regional Councillor Gael Miles. "We need your help and we need your support. At this point, MPP Linda Jeffrey is standing alone in the legislature."
Dhillon said he was unable to attend debate in the legislature recently due to the birth of his third child. He plans to be in the legislature Tuesday for debate. "I will be voting against (the bill)," Dhillon told The Guardian. "I'm listening to my constituents and that's the gist of why I decided to vote against it."
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