A change of the political guard is underway in Peel Region, with two long-serving mayors choosing not to run and a third unlikely to be re-elected. And that’s all for the good.

Hazel McCallion is retiring after an astonishing 36 years as Mississauga mayor; Caledon’s Marolyn Morrison is stepping away after a more modest 11-year stint; and Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell is struggling to stay past the 14 years she has already served, but trails badly in the polls. Peel residents should welcome these developments. This sprawling region needs fresh direction. With that in mind, here are our choices for mayor in Peel:

Bonnie Crombie for Mississauga

It’s hard to imagine two candidates with more in common than Bonnie Crombie and Steve Mahoney. Both are Liberal Party stalwarts; both served in Parliament earlier in their careers; and both have experience on city council. Crombie is a member of the current council while Mahoney left in 1987 after winning a seat at Queen’s Park.

They espouse similar policies, too, pledging to attract business, limit tax increases to the rate of inflation, provide better service to new immigrants and boost public transit. Their transit plans differ on details, with Mahoney putting more emphasis on High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, but both support a planned light rail line and expect the province to pay for most transit expansion.

Either of these contenders would be a reasonable choice, but we favour Crombie. She’s a younger, high-energy candidate who is remarkably passionate about Mississauga’s future.

Mahoney has a wealth of experience at all three levels of government over a long career of public service. And he pledges to take a co-operative approach at city hall, which would be a refreshing change from McCallion’s political steamroller. But Crombie has criticized him as “yesterday’s man,” and it’s a description that sticks.

We are not swayed by McCallion’s public endorsement of Crombie’s platform over the Thanksgiving weekend. That gesture — equivalent to a royal nod in Mississauga — is guaranteed to attract votes. But it does little to enhance Crombie’s credibility as an agent of change.

For that, it’s better to look in detail at her commitments to bring more mixed-use development to the city, more walkable neighbourhoods, increased urban intensification, and revitalization of Mississauga’s 22-kilometre waterfront. These are all gaps in McCallion’s legacy, and addressing them is vital to ensuring a vibrant future. Crombie is the best bet for progress in these important areas.

There are some blind spots in Crombie’s agenda. She doesn’t put enough emphasis on issues of accountability and public integrity, which is disappointing in light of McCallion’s conflict-of-interest scandal. A public inquiry found McCallion in “a real and apparent conflict of interest” over a development that could have enriched her son, but Crombie criticized the report as a waste of money. As mayor, she will need to exercise better judgment in these matters.

Given that caveat, Crombie deserves a chance to show what she can do to advance Canada’s sixth largest city into the 21st century. She’s the best choice for Mississauga’s voters on Oct. 27.

Linda Jeffrey for Brampton

The clear choice in Brampton is Linda Jeffrey, a highly regarded Liberal cabinet minster who gave up her Queen’s Park seat to run for mayor. After the scandals and spending excesses seen during Susan Fennell’s time in office, this city desperately needs accountable leadership.

Jeffrey has promised to review Brampton’s finances immediately using external auditors. She will implement a lobbyist registry and says she will appoint a full-time integrity commissioner with power to investigate alleged infractions. Jeffrey promises to bring new rigour to the awarding of city contracts. And she has pledged to post her own expenses, and those of senior staff and councillors, online.

It’s about time. Brampton residents have suffered through years of mismanagement, obfuscation and shameless grasping at goodies on Fennell’s watch. Her shenanigans are too numerous to detail here, but the list was capped in August by a Deloitte Canada forensic audit that found Fennell’s office had broken spending rules 266 times over seven years. There were a host of other questionable expenses that couldn’t be properly explored due to lack of information. Police are investigating.

That Fennell is running at all, in the face of such damning evidence, testifies to her brazen disregard of the public interest.

John Sanderson, currently a Brampton councillor, is also campaigning for mayor on a pledge to clean up city hall. To his credit, he pushed for the Deloitte audit. And he would certainly be a huge improvement over Fennell. But Sanderson’s record in public office can’t compare to that of Jeffrey. She began her political career at Brampton city council, then moved to Queen’s Park where she handled a variety of jobs including serving as natural resources minister, minister of labour, minister responsible for seniors and, most recently, minister of municipal affairs.

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Jeffrey has the skills necessary to flush away the mess at city hall. And her extensive government contacts, and expertise on several cabinet files, should stand Brampton in good stead when dealing with the province.

Allan Thompson for Caledon

Councillor Allan Thompson isn’t pledging a radical break from the policies of Marolyn Morrison but he does promise more community engagement if elected mayor. “People want to be involved and know what’s going on,” he said. And he’s right. Big decisions, such as putting a huge Canadian Tire warehouse in the area, deserve more public input. Thompson is our choice.

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