Angry Brampton voters, fed up with the ongoing expense scandal surrounding Mayor Susan Fennell, are looking for change on Monday when they go to the polls.

Fennell is staring at a likely defeat, but many in Brampton are also looking to change the attitude of entitlement that certain councillors have supported through their refusal to hold Fennell accountable on many issues. The Star takes a look at some of the hot Ward races in the city where voters will decide Brampton's future.

Wards 9 & 10 City Councillor

Vicky Dhillon, who has voted in support of Fennell on many issues, such as the 6-5 decision to go forward with the controversial $500 million downtown redevelopment, is in a tough fight against a man who shares the same last name, Gurpreet Dhillon.

Vicky Dhillon has served two terms on council, but has come under stiff criticism from the largely Punjabi-Canadian community he represents, because of his past support of Fennell. He routinely voted against anti-Fennell councillors, for example, when he supported her continued use of a $49,000-a-year limousine service in December, even though public outrage over her lavish transportation costs was mounting.

He was asked about public concern over his support for Fennell.

“We voted for her car service only,” he told the Star via email. He claims that he did not vote for her driver. “The driver was on her expense account.” In fact, the driver service was included in the cost of the car service he voted in favour of.

“I am not a supporter of Mayor Susan Fennell,” he said.

Gurpreet Dhillon, a business analyst for Rogers who started a local non-profit basketball academy for youth, says it’s time for change for his Wards and the City of Brampton. “I want to change the attitude of entitlement at city hall. We have to put a stop to politicians who have disrespected the taxpayers for too long.”

Gurpreet Dhillon almost won a seat in the last provincial election for the NDP, losing by about 3,400 votes.

“We need to bring more jobs to Brampton to support the influx of residential development the city has seen,” he said. The other candidates are: Allison Brown and Jarnail (Sunny) Singh.

Wards 7 & 8 City Councillor

Manan Gupta hasn’t served on council, but he has had to defend his run for the seat being vacated by retiring councillor Sandra Hames. That’s because Fennell has been strongly endorsing Gupta for the job.

“That’s a really tight situation I’m into,” he said. “She’s supporting my passion for Brampton. If she sees those passionate citizens coming to the council there’s no harm in that.”

Gupta is the publisher of a truck industry trade magazine. He is currently a board member of Brampton Safe City, which is run by the husband of Councillor Gael Miles, another loyal Fennell supporter. His priorities for the city are value for property tax dollars, sustainable jobs and cutting wasteful expenditures.

He’s facing stiff competition from Pat Fortini, who lives in Ward 8 and is a well-known community advocate. He was hailed as a local hero this summer when he kicked down the door of a burning house and helped two boys get out.

“I’m running to clean up the mess in city hall,” Fortini said. “Brampton residents are hurting. They don’t want any more bad news. We need jobs, we need our first university, we need community policing. I want to get in there and get to work.”

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Fortini is pledging to only accept about $23,000 of the roughly $80,000 salary that a city councillor is entitled to. “For tax reasons it doesn’t make sense for me to take any more because of extra income I get. I’m not doing this for money. I’ve already inquired about it. I’m going to give the rest to eight or nine charities in my ward every month.”

When asked if his heroism has helped his campaign, he said he didn’t want to talk about it. “I feel bad for my neighbour who died.”

Other candidates include Khalid Alvi, Karla Bailey, James Drozdiak, Damindar Ghumman, Ajay Malhotra, Subbiah Manickam, Gerald McCourt, Archibald McLachlan, Maria Peart, Veenay Sehdev and Sohan Singh.

Wards 2 & 6 Regional Councillor

John Hutton is hoping to move over from his city council seat in the Wards to the regional seat, but he will have to get past the son of the area’s long-serving councillor Paul Palleschi, who is retiring.

Hutton has been on council since 1985 and is one of the resident environmentalists. He’s also been one of the biggest thorns in Fennell’s side. He voted against things such as her limousine service and the controversial downtown re-development. He was found to have broken spending rules himself, about $5,000 over four years mostly for the purchase of tickets to events that used to be allowed under the city’s old expense policy. But he fully supported the forensic audit that was conducted and has pledged to make accountability a key feature of council.

He’s up against Michael Palleschi. When asked about his father’s loyal support of Fennell, Palleschi said, “The votes say that he’s been her supporter. But I think of him more as a service provider to the citizens.”

Palleschi has no experience in public office, has not sat on any committees and said he has no volunteer experience. He moved to Brampton seven months ago with his wife and children, from Wellington county, but was born and raised in the city.

Jobs and community safety are two of the key planks of his platform. Asked about his lack of experience, he said “I’ve been involved in politics through my father for 29 years.”

Other candidates are: Vicky Colbourne, Mandeep Jassal, Baljit Johal, Sean Kean and Jai Naraine.

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