Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie doesn’t believe Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has his facts straight when it comes to her city potentially leaving the Region of Peel.

Brown made headlines last week after questioning whether Mississauga could afford equalization payments should it exit its 45-year regional partnership with Brampton and Caledon. On March 20, Mississauga council passed a motion in principle asking the provincial government to pass legislation to allow Mississauga to separate from the region it shares with Brampton and Caledon.

“The narrative he is conveying is factually incorrect,“ Crombie said in an interview Monday. “The notion that there should be some sort of payout is fundamentally false.”

On Friday, Brown said because Brampton helped fund part of Mississauga’s infrastructure and growth for decades through its regional contributions, Mississauga would have to pay out “hundreds of millions” to Brampton and Caledon.

Brown, who would like to see the region remain intact, listed regional roads and Mississauga’s water treatment plant as examples of regional projects his city would expect repayment for.

“Frankly, the bill — I’m not sure Mississauga could afford at this point,” he said.

Crombie called that assessment false, while claiming Mississauga would owe Brampton nothing if granted its long-standing wish for independence. She pointed to a corporate report by city staff showing Mississauga has been contributing a majority to the shared regional funding pie for decades.

“The fact remains that Mississauga is contributing $85 million additional taxpayer dollars per year — your money — to subsidize Brampton and to a lesser extent Caledon. In 2004, this number was $32 million,” wrote Crombie in a statement to residents posted to her Facebook account March 24, adding Brampton got $74 million of the $85 million extra it sent the region last year.

Crombie also said infrastructure projects like the water treatment plant highlighted by Brown are paid for through local development charges in each city, with the majority of regional funding dedicated to policing, waste management and roads.

“Based on these numbers, there is no way that Brampton paid for our infrastructure,” she said. “If I were the mayor of Brampton, I, too, would be worried about Mississauga separating, as it would leave Brampton to finally pay its own way.”

Mississauga last attempted an exit from the region in 2003 while Hazel McCallion was mayor. That attempt failed for what Crombie called a “lack of political will” from the provincial government at the time.

She believes things will turn out differently this time around under the Doug Ford Tories.

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“The bottom line is there has to be the political will at the provincial government. So, when this government announced they were going to review regional governance in nine different regions, we thought ‘this is our opportunity to make our business case,’ ” said Crombie.

“It’s all about controlling our own destiny. We feel we’re fiscally responsible. We’ve proven (we) can manage ourselves and govern our own affairs and we want the ability to do so fully,” she added.

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