Caledon’s councillors walk out of meeting before vote on facilitation

June 11, 2015 · 0 Comments

By Bill Rea

When faced with the imminent loss of authority of land use planning near Bolton, Caledon’s representatives on Peel Regional council did about the only thing they could do Thursday — They walked out.

Mississauga Councillor Carolyn Parrish put forth a motion calling on the Town to pick up all costs related to land use matters going to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), as well as costs for infrastructure related to the Bolton Residential Expansion Study (BRES) and that Regional staff and solicitors take part in facilitation.

The preamble of the motion stated Caledon was refusing to take part in facilitation, and that anticipated OMB hearings could cost the Region hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Town council late last month voted not to take part in Provincial facilitation regarding the Bolton employment land expansion. They cited concerns that the facilitation process would not be open and transparent.

Regional council in April passed a motion supporting facilitation, with some conditions. One of them was that the Town agree to participate.

Thursday’s motion also stated the Town had refused to comply with the April motion.

Thursday’s discussion got heated and passionate, with Mayor Allan Thompson symbolically tearing up a copy of Parrish’s motion.

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie called for the vote on the motion to be taken, and that’s when the Caledon contingent walked from the room.

Procedures at Regional council state there must be at least one representative from each of the three municipalities present for there to be quorum. With the five Caledon reps walking out, quorum was lost.

Regional Chair Frank Dale called a 30-minute recess, but none of the Caledon councillors returned, so he had to adjourn the meeting.