Hat on. Glasses lowered. Notes in hand. Ian Sinclair moves toward the podium with the deliberate steps of a man who has come prepared, not just to speak, but to challenge. Conversations hush and heads turn, intently. In Caledon’s council chamber, his confident walk and heavy voice are a familiar sight, and a comforting one […]

Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who has left a trail of controversy on each stop of his tumultuous political career, just pushed through a now approved 2026 financial blueprint that delays critical infrastructure work, lacks spending on major city building projects like the downtown flood plan, leans heavily on new debt and relies on unsecured grant […]

In a city strapped for cash, where vital infrastructure projects have been cancelled or stalled for years under Mayor Patrick Brown, whose own spending has skyrocketed despite claims of fiscal belt tightening, the globetrotting by council members and staff continues to frustrate Brampton taxpayers forced to pay for these lavish trips. There is little public […]

Amid intense public scrutiny of the contaminated former General Motors site in St. Catharines, including concerns about an offline filtration system meant to eliminate toxic chemicals from stormwater runoff, the property owner has ordered further lab testing on the northern portion of the 55-acre property, the City has shared.  In a post on the City […]

$245 for 1,799 pages: 1,622 completely redacted—words covered by large blocks of black to hide them from the public. The Pointer is trying to uncover the details behind a $4-billion deal, the largest of its kind in the municipality’s history, between the City of Brampton and a foreign company that not many in Ontario have […]

On December 10, Brampton Councillor Pat Fortini walked into the apartment building at 507 Balmoral Drive. He was disgusted by what he saw. He shared his experience with his fellow councillors during a meeting the next day, and confronted the representative of the building owner standing before him in the council chamber. “I was there […]

Caledon resident Tony Sevelka’s days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and now years since he started digging into the details of a proposed blasting mega-quarry steps away from his home.  His quest led him to file a freedom of information request this summer, seeking access to all public objections to the contentious project.  […]

Travel documents, including receipts and itineraries, obtained by The Pointer under freedom of information requests have exposed a troubling pattern at the City of Brampton under Mayor Patrick Brown. Expensive flights and hotels, questionable spending on food, drinks and transportation, all in the name of so-called economic development, have become the norm in Brampton.  The […]

On October 28, officials at the City of St. Catharines knew the filtration system designed to prevent highly toxic chemicals from leaching into the former GM property on Ontario Street and the surrounding area was no longer functional, but for weeks they have failed to tell the public. A freedom of information request by The […]

On November 20, fire erupted inside a home on Banas Way in the northwest part of Brampton. Some residents of the house were able to make a dramatic escape by climbing onto the roof, but when the smoke cleared, five people were dead, and four more were in the hospital. Since the tragedy, Mayor Patrick […]

“I can’t see why we have to destroy the Greenbelt when there are thousands of acres within [the] metropolitan area of Toronto, which are empty or brownfields,” Assunta Marcolongo, a long-time member of the grassroots group STOP the 413 NOW, says. On a freezing, rainy morning last week, November 21, 79-year-old Marcolongo travelled an hour-and-a-half […]

In April, with the threat of a transit strike looming over City Hall, Mayor Patrick Brown and his fellow members of council had other priorities.  Just as the head of the transit union was accusing the City and Brown of bargaining in bad faith, the mayor and his supporters on council, secretly approved a $10.9 […]