The Hurontario-Main LRT Protoype at Celebration Square, Mississauga.

This week is a busy one for the Hurontario-Main LRT team. Once again, they are at the City Halls of Mississauga and Brampton for another public consultation as the plans advance. But this time, they have brought a friend with them: a prototype of the LRT.

This made-in-Ontario vehicle by Bombardier may be seen rolling down Hurontario in the near future (the actual vehicle will be twice the length). Residents and visitors are allowed to explore the interior of the vehicle and try out the seats (including the driver’s!). The train was parked at Mississauga’s Celebration Square from Friday, May 10^th to Tuesday, May 14^th and has now travelled to Brampton’s Gage Park, where it will rest from Wednesday, May 15^th to Wednesday, May 22^nd.

MyPeel.ca President Josh Singh Atwal testing out the driver’s seat.

While plans are well underway to redesign the stretch between Brampton Downtown and Port Credit to be more pedestrian-, transit-, and cycle-friendly, there is still an issue of cost. Who will fund this project? Will it go as planned? We have already heard that Brampton Mayor, Susan Fennell, is having second thoughts. But Mississauga Mayor, Hazel McCallion is adamant that the LRT will run through Mississauga. (link)

Residents of both cities have brought up some concerns. Elevating the centre of the road may interfere with traffic in some areas. Some Brampton residents argue that the vehicle will interfere with the Flower City Parade. On the other hand, some Mississauga residents argue that the stops are too few and far between.

Regardless of these concerns, it is understandable that the LRT is needed. The growth projections for both cities (link) and Metrolinx’s Big Move plan (link) were not conducted overnight. An LRT may be a sound solution to Peel’s emerging transportation crisis. It may even attract investment and encourage the growth of local jobs. This is as long as the plans keep accessibility in mind.

To discuss the importance of access to transportation within Peel and beyond, the cities are holding what has now grown into the Western GTA Summit. Originally comprising of Mississauga, Brampton, and Oakville, the summit is to now include Caledon, Burlington, and the Halton Region, more generally. The theme for the summit? Live, Move, and Thrive.

The Summit will take place on Tuesday, May 21^st, from 1pm to 9pm at the Mississauga Convention Centre (75 Derry Road West, Mississauga). It is free to attend and the discussions will surround developing solutions for the emerging transportation crisis in Peel and Halton regions. For more information on the upcoming summit, check out westerngtasummit.ca.

To learn more about the Hurontario-Main LRT project, check out their website at www.hurontario-main.ca.

So we all know that poverty, hunger, homelessness, and unemployment aren’t new in Peel. They’ve been here for quite some time and Peel is notorious for not addressing them as well as it could. And we’ve witnessed a beggar here or there on Peel’s streets. But our poverty has remained more hidden than our neighbouring giant, Toronto.

Our homeless have tended to inhabit less frequented areas such as parks and creeks. I’ve even caught one sitting smack-dab in the middle of a low-density suburban neighbourhood in Brampton. Not what you’re used to seeing. Why? Homelessness and begging seem to be a “Toronto problem”. Makes sense. The city core is dense, full of people, and even more-so, full of business. Aspiring beggars (in any part of the world) leave the smaller towns to make their living in large cities. They usually also find more access to services there, don’t they?

But as Peel grows and develops its own core; strengthening it’s own industries, there is now more room for growth… for the begging industry. Yes, I consider it an industry as legitimate as any other. Whether we have the big, organized begging firms that represent specific poverty groups (like the Salvation Army or World Vision off of Hurontario and the 401) or simple locally-based sole proprietors (like our friend off of Hurontario and the 403), they are all legitimate begging enterprises that market poverty and offer virtue to generate an income.

The term “Virtue” was used by David Vogel in his book “The Market for Virtue”. In my own words, ‘virtue’ is simply ‘the good feeling’ somebody gets for giving to a cause. Whether you’re World Vision or our sole proprietor, you’re selling that same virtue. And guess what? We have room for more virtue-sellers in Peel.

As the market gets hotter, our needy can come out of the creeks and start their enterprises in central traffic areas of Peel. In Toronto, this happens most in the downtown core, where the sole proprietors compete against canvassers employed by the big organizations for the attention of passing pedestrians. You can also see this starting in our localized downtowns. We hear about the woman living underneath Brampton GO station.

But in a car-based society, our pedestrian traffic is light… but we have highways. And our friend by the 403 has capitalized on this. And guess what? He makes more money than me. Not always. There are good days and bad days. I work for minimum wage at a nearby cafe and often times, he will make more money than me. What does this mean? Its an industry that even I should consider entering, let alone the unemployed. We have other highways; we have other roadways just waiting to be tapped.

But I won’t. I’ve done it before, working the street corners of Downtown Toronto. Not as a sole proprietor but as a canvasser recruited by one of the big firms. It’s a tough job. I may make less on average at a cafe… but that’s fine by me. That won’t stop other aspiring beggars though.

In the end, there’s nothing wrong with begging as its an industry like any other. It’s done by big firms, and local individuals who have their own personalities. In fact, the beggars, the homeless, and the unemployed were the ones that stopped most often and listened to my plight as a canvasser… but had nothing to give. What’s wrong is why people are driven to beg. Income inequality, lack of opportunity and access to much-needed services, and other social ills that need to be addressed in Peel and beyond.

As Peel grows and our poverty becomes more visible, I think our moral responsibility, as a society, is to push harder to fight it (although we already do).

This is an opinion piece. MyPeel.ca does not necessarily endorse the views of the author.