Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. In 2002, Brampton's population was 351,646, and it is estimated that by the year 2021, the city population will have almost doubled to 600,000 people. As one of Canada's fastest growing cities, the municipality has found it difficult to cope with its unprecendented growth, in terms of the provision of adequate infrastructure. It celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary in 2003, marking 150 years since its incorporation as a village in 1853.

John Haggert, Brampton's first mayor

Industries include Ford, Nortel, Para Paints, a Coca-Cola Bottling Plant, Nestlé, DaimlerChrysler Canada Ltd., Maple Lodge Farms, Frito Lay Canada and Data Business Forms.

Brampton was once known as The Flowertown of Canada, a title it earned due to the city's large greenhouse industry, which included Dale's Flowers, a company that won many international rose awards for nearly half a century.

Schools include Turner Fenton Secondary School, Canada's only campus based high school, and Heart Lake Secondary School.

Cultural entities in the city are controlled by the Brampton Arts Council. They include Visual Arts Brampton and the Heritage Theatre. Also in the city is the Peel Heritage Complex, which is run by the municipality.

The city is host to the Brampton Battalion, an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) league team. The Brampton Excelsiors are a highly successful lacrosse team, seven-time winners of the Mann Cup. Their most recent Mann Cup victory was in 2002. The junior Excelsiors won the Minto Cup in 1952.

There are many sporting venues and activities including the outdoor ice path for skating through Gage Park and the ski lift at Chinguacousy Park. In the summer amateur softball leagues abound and crowds line the beaches at Professor's Lake.

A new convention centre, the Pearson Convention Centre, opened in August of 2003.

Table of contents

1 Heart of Peel 2 Neighbourhoods 3 External links 4 See also

Heart of Peel

Neighbourhoods

Chinguacousy and Toronto Gore were two townships incorporated into Brampton mid-way through the twentieth century. From this merger, communities such as Bramalea, Heart Lake and Professor's Lake, Snelgrove, Tullamore, and Mayfield, were formed.

Rural villages, such as Claireville, Ebenezer, Victoria, Springbrook, Churchville, Coleraine and Huttonville, were merged into the larger city. While only Victoria, Huttonville and Churchville still exist as identifiable communities, other names like Claireville are re-emerging, as names of new developments.

The early 1980s brought new development, as the city released large tracts of land to residential developers. This land began in its largest boom in 1999, when development started to appear as far north as the city's border with Caledon. The Region has designated this border as being the line of demarcation for urban development until 2021. However, neighbouring communities not part of Peel have also been massively affected by the city's sudden spurt. The end of Brampton and start of Georgetown, for example, is essentially non-identifiable.

External links

• City of Brampton
• Brampton Arts Council

• Gordon Graydon
• City of Brampton Arts Person of the Year