Today, Mississauga is a car-clogged big city in its own right that's quickly running out of open land. The transformation hasn't gone unnoticed in rural Caledon, just a 20- minute drive north, where you still can't see the homes for the trees. Many residents of the sparsely populated agricultural community moved there to avoid crowds and are enthusiastically supporting efforts to minimize growth. Both areas are in Peel Region, which has tough decisions to make in the face of an explosion that's expected to raise the region's population from one million today to 1.35 million in 20 years. The greater Toronto area's population is expected to grow by nearly two million in the next two decades.
Peel Region is already home to more cars per capita than any other place in Ontario.
To accommodate the extra people and their cars while preserving the character of the communities, Peel's official plan asks that all municipalities work hard to try to double the number of people living on each square kilometre of land. But that's urban sprawl. Covering more fields with subdivisions creates more costs and even longer commutes than residents already face. Selling density to the city or the country is difficult. They want big lots, Mr. Gepp said.