By Claude & Parth on 2026-06-25, City: Brampton, View Transcript
Brampton City Council revised its agenda, heard community recognitions and presentations, debated automated traffic enforcement and sign rules, approved funding for a Sheridan College diagnostic imaging lab, and passed a motion asking the Province to expand Highway 410 north of Bovaird.
Council debated an automated enforcement update that included red light cameras, a one-year noise camera pilot, and repurposing some automated speed enforcement cameras for Peel Regional Police use as automatic licence plate reader tools.
Councillor Gurpartap Singh Toor said staff were "recommending 20 cameras phased over a period of two years at local intersections," and added that the proposal also included "a noise camera pilot," which he said showed promise even though "we don't have legislative authority to issue tickets for those offenses."
Mayor Patrick Brown said he supported doing more review before launching the pilot, stating, "before you fully implement the pilot, before we pick one technology or multiple technologies… the privacy assessment, I would say let's do all those things first." Council also considered a $205,000 budget amendment for two red light camera installations. The automated enforcement items were split for voting, with items 1 to 4 passing unanimously and items 5 and 6 passing with one opposing vote.
Council added a staff report on budget amendments for cycling facilities on Charlottetown Boulevard and Howden Boulevard and debated how the changes would affect Brampton's active transportation network.
Bike Brampton delegate David said, "More people living outside of Brampton are using Brampton's AT infrastructure to commute to work, school, or play in Brampton. A connected active transportation network is key to maintaining the momentum. Ripping out bike lanes without adequate replacement jeopardizes that momentum."
Councillors pressed staff on costs and design assumptions. Rowena Santos asked, "So, $372,000 is to pay our own staff to do this design work?" Michael Palleschi questioned whether there was enough space for the proposed path, saying, "Where do we get 8 ft boulevard to put this path on when we don't have 8 ft?" He also pointed to possible conflicts with "trees, Rogers infrastructure, light poles." Dennis Keenan asked whether savings from not painting bike lanes on one side had been factored in and whether the figures were based on a contractor quote or "just staff putting a figure to what they believe the cost should be."
Council discussed election signs, open house signs, and mobile signage, with several members warning against changing rules too quickly.
Michael Palleschi said open house signs had "gotten out of hand," adding, "Every intersection you go to, there's up to sometimes four signs for one open house." He said he did not support allowing six signs per open house and added, "I don't want more than one at an intersection."
A separate signage and advertising bylaw matter was deferred to the July 8 council meeting for more consultation. Council also referred the mobile signage item back to staff for clarification on electric mobile signs and magnets on cars.
Council approved $400,000 for Sheridan College's health sciences project at Davis Campus, where the college is planning a diagnostic imaging lab tied to a program launched in September 2025.
During the presentation, Rajan requested "$400,000 from the city," and council later approved the funding. The project would support training in diagnostic imaging fields including ultrasound, CT, X-ray, and MRI.
During discussion, Councillor Toor said municipalities often end up paying for projects that should be funded by senior governments: "every single time we talk about healthcare, and we're proud to support healthcare in our cities, it is also unfortunate at the same time that we sometimes carry that burden on our taxpayers when it is primarily… a provincial responsibility."
Council proclaimed July as Somali Heritage Month. A community speaker asked the city "to recognize and include our community in Brampton summer festival."
Council also heard updates on economic development programming. Mayor Brown said the city welcomed "a $5.2 million federal investment to help Brampton businesses grow," adding that the funding would support "two new programs to strengthen resilience and competitiveness," the Business Growth Accelerator and the BNX AI program.
Councillors listed as present: - Patrick Brown, Mayor - Harkirat Singh, Deputy Mayor - Rowena Santos - Gurpartap Singh Toor - Paul Vicente - Michael Palleschi - Dennis Keenan - Martin Medeiros - Navjit Kaur Brar - Rod Power - Pat Fortini