From 1990 to 2019 support for social services and health did not keep pace with growth.

Growth in Peel outpaced the ability of the social services and the health network to keep abreast of the massive development in both Mississauga and Brampton.

This lack of interest and failure, by the provincial governments, to comprehend the rapid growth pattern in Peel meant that growth was not a factor in funding and Peel would be treated like everyone else with the exception of Band-Aid funding when provincial politicians intervened.

That "one size fits all" approach put Peel and especially Brampton behind the eight-ball because the regional social service net and the health system could only provide a certain capacity of service-based funding levels that resulted in wait lists and hallway medicine.

In June, Brampton council decided to "go back to the future" and resurrect Fair Share for Peel 1990 by narrowing the ask to seek a fair deal for Brampton -- zeroing in on health care.

Brampton is calling out the premier on hallway medicine and city council has a petition that hopes to get support of more than 100,000-plus people.

Fair Deal for Brampton is a petition that claims Brampton has been chronically underfunded with the lowest per capita provincial funding rate in Ontario.

Petitioners are demanding the government provide immediate funding to support the increasing volume of visits to the Urgent Care Centre at Peel Memorial Centre, full completion of the Phase 2 at PMC and the construction of a third health-care facility in Brampton.

That, the petitioners say, will go a long way to end hallway medicine in Brampton.

Hopefully, the petition will be a success but one shouldn’t hold one’s breath, notwithstanding the premier’s promises to end hallway medicine.

Political promises have a habit of being dumped in circular 13 (trash bin) and the premier’s almost always ready excuse is the deficit.

It takes 10 years to build a new hospital and to do that there has to be funding and the will to start. Maybe the petition will move that mark closer.

Kudos to Brampton council for the Fair Deal for Brampton petition, even if they have no jurisdiction in health matters.

It appears that Brampton council is more interested in health care than the province. Hopefully, city council’s leadership will bring a Fair Deal for Brampton.

Terry Miller is a longtime Brampton resident and former Peel Region and Brampton city councillor. The Scene column appears weekly in the Guardian.