Brampton and regional councillor for Wards 9 and 10, John Sprovieri, has confirmed he is running against incumbent Mayor Linda Jeffrey for the city’s top job in the Oct. 22 municipal election.

Sprovieri, who has served as a councillor in Brampton since 1988, is the last incumbent member of council to reveal his plans for the next council term.

“Our present mayor came with good connections from the province and Bramptonians were expecting to get a better deal from her and her Liberal friends. Instead, Brampton received less and were neglected and ignored by the premier and prime minister,” said Sprovieri.

He identified a number of areas he’d like to focus on if elected where he feels recent incarnations of council have dropped the ball.

Among them, he listed hospital wait times, LRT funding and unequal representation on regional council. He also said he believes the city has suffered reputational damage resulting from the seven-year-long, $28.5 million Inzola lawsuit currently before the Ontario Court of Justice.

“Brampton has had a dysfunctional council for the past four years that continues to hurt our reputation,” he said.

Sprovieri also questioned the logic behind the chosen site for the downtown Ryerson University campus where the downtown GO train station parking lot is located.

The site was chosen by the province, but Sprovieri feels the city should have stepped up lobbying efforts for more decision-making power in the process.

In addition, Sprovieri says he’d like to see what he described as pervasive infighting on council come to an end, and believes that starts with leadership.

“I am running to bring teamwork back to city hall. I will work with the entire community and all of council to prioritize Brampton, not Queen’s Park or the House of Commons,” he said.