Mayor Linda Jeffrey, who has pushed transit near the top of her agenda, says the city has seen “stagnation” on one of the most pressing issues facing Brampton.

Her comments raise questions about what veteran councillors have done about transit expansion, while the city bursts at the seams and is increasingly crippled by traffic gridlock, with another 300,000 residents set to arrive in the coming decades.

“Transit and transportation is a high priority for me because I know it connects people — physically and socially,” said Jeffrey of her work on expanding transit for a city expected to hit 900,000 by 2041. She has had major successes, such as a provincial commitment to finally expand GO Train service into Brampton, but Jeffrey failed to bring a fully provincially-funded LRT into downtown when a bloc of councillors who routinely oppose her on key issues, voted the province's plan down.

Surprisingly, city councillors, such as Elaine Moore — viewed by many in and outside city hall as the leader of the council faction opposed to the mayor — ripped into the provincial government’s plans to launch high-speed rail (HSR) after Brampton was left off the direct route that will connect Toronto and Windsor by 2025. Moore voted against the fully funded LRT plan backed by Jeffrey and four other councillors in 2015.

After again blaming the province for its transit planning, Moore and councillors Grant Gibson and Gael Miles, who are in their fifth, eighth and ninth council terms, respectively, were asked to detail their own actions to lobby the province while advocating on behalf of their constituents for better transit, following their comments about being blindsided by Queen's Park when the HSR route was announced two weeks ago.

Following the announcement, Miles said during council last week, "This is a huge issue for the City of Brampton. We are working to become future ready. Without this, we may as well forget it." She accused the provincial government of ignoring Brampton.

But when asked what they have done specifically to advance transit expansion, the "huge issue" they described (transit and traffic gridlock ranked as the most important for Brampton residents in a 2013 survey by analytics firm Environics), Miles and the other councillors who publicly complained about the province could only point generally to staff reports and responses by the city to various transit initiatives led by Queen's Park.

Moore did not provide any examples of specific work she has done to lobby the province or provincial transit agency Metrolinx to ensure Brampton has been at the table when transit expansion has been negotiated. "Council has always recognized that decisions on advancing major regional transit initiatives lies at the doorstep of Queen's Park, which begs the question of what our locally elected MPPs, past and present, have done to advocate and champion for the regional transportation needs of our city that align with our local council endorsed transit priorities," Moore said.

"For council, or any individual councillor, to direct staff to prepare a report or response to a 2014 HSR provincial political announcement would be like sending them off to chase ghosts."

By contrast, council members in Mississauga and Toronto have sat right at the table with the province and Metrolinx while negotiations for transit expansion have taken place. And their cities are reaping the benefits.