Peel County - Definition and Overview

Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario, Canada

Motto: Working for you
Area:	1,241.99 sq. km.
Population  - Total (2001)  - Cdn. CD Rank: - Density	988,948 Ranked 5th 796.3/km²
MPs
Navdeep Singh Bains, Colleen Beaumier, Ruby Dhalla, Albina Guarnieri, Wajid Khan, Gurbax S. Malhi, Carolyn Parrish, Paul Szabo, David Tilson
MPPs
Bob Delaney, Vic Dhillon, Ernie Eves, Peter Fonseca, Linda Jeffrey, Kuldip Kular, Tim Peterson, Harinder S. Takhar
Regional Chair	Emil Kolb
Governing body	Peel Regional Council
Region of Peel (http://www.region.peel.on.ca/community/index-flash.htm)

The Regional Municipality of Peel encompasses the suburbs directly to the west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Within the region are the cities of Brampton, Mississauga and the town of Caledon. Mississauga occupies the southernmost portion of the region, a sprawling city of 680,000 (the sixth largest in Canada) that reaches from Lake Ontario north to Highway 407. In the centre is Brampton, a smaller city of 370,000, which is still one of the larger municipalities in Canada. Finally, by far the largest (in area) and the most sparsely populated part of the region is Caledon, which is home to only 55,000 residents. The Region of Peel is the second-largest municipality in Ontario. The regional seat is in Brampton.

The Region was incorporated in 1974 and was legislated to provide community services to the large and highly urbanized area. Owing to immigration and its transportation infrastructure (six highways pass through Peel and the Pearson International Airport is within its boundaries), the Region of Peel is a rapidly-growing area with a young population and an increasing profile. In recent years, the torrid growth in Mississauga has prompted many in the city to call for it to withdraw from Peel and become a single-tier city, arguing it pays far more into the region and relinquishes far too much power. Such a move would likely also encourage Brampton to become a single-tier city, while Caledon has already considered joining Dufferin County if such a move happened, due to its rural nature.

The Region of Peel was named after Sir Robert Peel, the nineteenth-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Attractions

• Brampton Airport (Caledon)
• Brick Work Ruins (Caledon)
• Bruce Trail (Caledon)
• Caledon Trailway (Caledon)
• Canadian Heritage Humber River (Caledon)
• Elora-Cataract Trail (Caledon)
• Grand Valley Trail (Caledon)
• Great War Flying Museum (Caledon)
• Humber Valley Trail (Caledon)
• Lester B. Pearson International Airport (Mississauga)
• Oak Ridges Trail (Caledon)
• Sheridan College (Brampton)
• University of Toronto at Mississauga (Mississauga)
• Vanier Correctional Institute (Brampton)
• Wild Water Kingdom (Brampton)

Protected areas

• Albion Hills Conservation Area
• Alton Forest Conservation Area
• Belfountain Conservation Area
• Caledon Lake Forest Conservation Area
• Forks of the Credit Provincial Park
• Glen Haffy Conservation Area
• Heart Lake Conservation Area
• Ken Whillans Conservation Area
• Palgrave Conservation Area
• Rattray Marsh Conservation Area
• Robert Baker Forest Conservation Area
• Terra Cotta Forest Conservation Area
• Warwick Conservation Area

Highways

• Highway 401
• Highway 403
• Highway 407 (ETR)
• Highway 409
• Highway 410
• Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW)

Demographics

(Statistics Canada, 2001)

• Dwellings: 313,650

Surrounding census divisions

• Halton Regional Municipality, Ontario
• Wellington County, Ontario
• Dufferin County, Ontario
• Simcoe County, Ontario
• York Regional Municipality, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario

External links

• Peel Region (http://www.region.peel.on.ca)