In a strongly worded statement, Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey has lashed out at her close ally, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, for publicly saying she wants to pull her city out of Peel Region.

“The City of Brampton recently entered into a formal facilitation process to address the future size and allocation of seats at the Region of Peel,” Jeffrey said in a statement Thursday. “I entered this process in good faith.

“Instead I read in a statement issued yesterday that Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie on behalf of her council has now taken a position that appears to be contradictory to the spirit of this facilitation process.”

Jeffrey accused Crombie of wanting to “cut and run” after Brampton for years supported infrastructure development in a rapidly growing Mississauga.

In a response to Jeffrey’s comments emailed to the Star Thursday, Crombie said she and her council will still participate in the review of Peel’s current government structure, but she made clear that she now has a different priority.

“Mississauga is Ontario’s 3rd largest City with a population approaching 800,000,” Crombie said in the email. “We think it is critically important that we control our own destiny and that we are able to make decisions that are in the best interests of Mississauga residents.”

“A lot has changed since 1974 (when Peel Region was created) and this conversation is long overdue. We need to do what works for Mississauga and ensure our residents get a fair deal. As the largest tax base in Peel Region, our taxpayers’ hard-earned money must go toward their needs.”

Crombie said Wednesday that she’d like to end the two-tier system of government and move Mississauga to an independent, single government similar to Toronto’s. Peel Region currently includes three municipalities: Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon.

Mississauga, with a population of about 750,000, is Canada’s sixth largest city; Brampton is the country’s ninth largest, with about 600,000 residents.

Crombie’s move comes at a time when her city is nearing full build-out, while Brampton is expected to add about 50 per cent more residents and Caledon is on the verge of a population explosion that could see it grow from about 65,000 residents to more than 500,000 in the next few decades.

“Mayor Crombie has stated Mississauga’s intention to leave a system that Brampton taxpayers have contributed to for over 30 years,” Jeffrey stated. “Mississauga’s growth and development is as a direct result of their participation in the Region of Peel and the billions of dollars contributed by Brampton taxpayers.”

That Jeffrey is openly going after Crombie comes as a surprise to most observers. Both are Liberals who have represented the party at higher levels of government, Jeffrey provincially and Crombie federally. Both maintain close ties with the current governing party in Ottawa and Queen’s Park. And they have worked together on major policy moves since winning their mayoral seats in 2014.

In September, Crombie and Jeffrey tag-teamed against Peel Police Chief Jennifer Evans to ban the force’s longstanding practice of street checks, known as carding in Toronto. Evans refused, but the province stepped in to put limits on the practice.

They both aggressively lobbied for the province’s Hurontario-Main LRT, though Jeffrey failed to get her council’s support. And they united at Peel Region council last year against Caledon, forcing the province to facilitate a process that would investigate questionable planning practices in Peel’s northernmost municipality.

It’s not the first time Jeffrey has lashed out at a former ally. Last year she publicly accused former premier Bill Davis, a Brampton resident, of challenging her support for the proposed LRT route through the city out of personal interests.

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Now, Crombie’s move to get out of Peel, pending a council-approved independent feasibility study, may have driven a major wedge between her and Jeffrey.

“Brampton was there to help Mississauga as they grew and built out,” Jeffrey said, “and now as infrastructure investments are needed in Brampton, our largest partner wants to cut and run.”

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