With a growing health sector, including big firms like Dynacare and Medtronic headquartered here, and the new Peel Memorial health campus set to come online, Jeffrey has gone to work selling Brampton as a health services hub.

This week, Jeffrey is in the United Arab Emirates looking to connect with industries dealing in health equipment, diagnostics and treatment.

It’s the second such trip Jeffrey has taken overseas as mayor.

Last May, Jeffrey accompanied Premier Kathleen Wynne on a trade mission to Israel and the West bank. Following that trip, the mayor spoke of establishing solid leads.

She noted 16 business prospects, of which 14 are companies in the health and life sciences sectors. Many of those firms, Jeffrey noted, are Ontario-based companies looking to expand.

Whether these prospects will translate into signed agreements is not yet clear but the junkets have provided ammunition to critics concerned about taxpayers footing the bill.

“Where are all the jobs?” asked city hall watcher George Startup.

From her trade mission to the UAE, Jeffrey will be expected to give business owners and community leaders enough to look past the dysfunction that has plagued this council term.

Wesley Jackson, lawyer, and owner of Wesley Jackson Professional Corporation, said he is interested in hearing more about opportunities closer to home.

He ran down a laundry list of items he hopes the mayor will address, including plans to revitalize Queen Street, the city’s busiest commercial corridor.

Jeffrey’s time as head of council, so far, has been deadlocked by an inability to connect with elected officials on key issues.

She will take to the podium next week to outline plans to move Brampton forward.

But as she heads into a re-election bid in 2018, the mayor acknowledged how crucial it is for her to deliver on her promises to restore faith in local government and, with respect to the local economy, “put us in a very good place for the future.”