Province appoints five-person board to oversee dissolution of Peel Region

By Mark Pavilons

The Province has appointed five members to a transition board that will make recommendations to the government on a range of restructuring matters related to the dissolution of the Regional Municipality of Peel in order to make Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon independent municipalities by January 1, 2025.

The five members who have been appointed to 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 and the provincial and federal governments.

Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, appointed the following individuals to the transition board:

John Livey, Chair, along with Tracey Cook, Eric Jolliffe, Sean Morley and Peter Weltman.

John Livey has over 40 years of municipal and provincial experience, having previously served as a Deputy City Manager for the City of Toronto, CAO for the Town of Markham and Planning Commissioner for the Region of York. Livey was also the executive director for the Greater Toronto Task Force, the Director of Policy Development for the Metropolitan Toronto Planning Department and spent 13 years prior to that in various capacities at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Tracey Cook has been with the City of Toronto since 2012, having served as the Interim City Manager, Deputy City Manager (Infrastructure & Development Services) and Executive Director of the Municipal Licensing & Standards division. Prior to her work at the city, Cook held senior and executive positions in the private sector, where she led organization wide business system and process transformations and organizational restructuring. Ms. Cook began her professional career with the Toronto Police Service and ended her 18 years of service as a Detective in the Fraud Squad.

Sean Morley is a partner in the business law section at Fasken Martineau LLP and a member of the firm's Global Infrastructure and Projects practice group with a focus on advising on all aspects of public-private partnership infrastructure projects. Mr. Morley is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, serves as the Chair of the Pollution Probe Foundation and is a former director of the Toronto Port Authority.

Eric Jolliffe has more than 40 years of experience in policing at the regional and municipal levels, including 18 years as a senior executive. Jolliffe is best known for his contributions as Chief of York Regional Police.

Peter Weltman was, until recently, Ontario's Financial Accountability Officer, a position he held from 2018-2023. Weltman previously served as Director of Executive Services, Communication and Parliamentary Relations and as Senior Director, Costing and Expenditure Management to the Parliamentary Budget Officer in Ottawa. Before working at the PBO, Weltman served in different capacities federally for Industry Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Service Canada and the Treasury Board Secretariat, and has private sector experience in both financial services and food retail.

“Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon are poised for significant growth over the next decade, and our government is making sure they have the tools required to prepare,” said Minister Clark. “The five members that have agreed to serve on the transition board bring an impressive range of experience that will help ensure the dissolution process is carried out with minimal disruption for residents and employees and in a manner that leaves all three municipalities well-positioned for future growth.”

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.

The dissolution of Peel Region and the establishment of a transition board was announced as part of the Hazel McCallion Act, which received Royal Assent on June 8.

Approximately 1.5 million residents currently live in the municipalities that make up the Region of Peel and this is expected to grow to over two million by 2041.

The Ontario government is expanding strong mayor powers to the mayors of 26 municipalities – including Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon – as part of the province's work to build 1.5 million homes by 2031.