Brampton East

Brampton East is one of five provincial ridings covering the rapidly growing city of Brampton in the western Greater Toronto Area. In the 2018 election, Gurratan Singh of the NDP won the seat as part of an orange wave that saw the party take three of Brampton’s five ridings. Singh, an Osgoode Hall–trained lawyer and younger brother of federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, served as the opposition’s Attorney General critic during his term. Heading into 2022, the riding was considered a key battleground as the Progressive Conservatives sought to flip NDP-held seats across the city, with healthcare and Highway 413 serving as dominant campaign issues.

Brampton East encompasses some of the city’s fastest-growing residential neighbourhoods in its northeastern quadrant. With Brampton’s population surpassing 650,000 by 2021 and the city ranked among the fastest-growing large municipalities in Canada, pressure on local infrastructure and public services was acute heading into the election.

Candidates

Hardeep Grewal (Progressive Conservative) — Grewal began his involvement in provincial politics at age 18, becoming one of the youngest local riding presidents in PC Party history for Etobicoke North. He later served as regional director of the Ontario PC Fund and worked with community organizations in Brampton, including the Guru Gobind Singh Children Foundation and C-SASIL (Canadian South Asians Supporting Independent Living).

Gurratan Singh (NDP) — Singh was the incumbent MPP, first elected in 2018. A graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, he practised law and provided pro-bono legal advice in Brampton for over a decade before entering politics. He served as the NDP’s Attorney General critic at Queen’s Park.

Jannat Garewal (Liberal) — Garewal is a small business owner and educator who teaches students from junior kindergarten to Grade 12 in Brampton East. She had worked with the Ontario Liberal Party for over a decade as the regional advisor for the Golden Horseshoe. During the campaign, she drew attention for contradicting Liberal leader Steven Del Duca’s position on Highway 413 by publicly stating the highway would be built.

Minor candidates included Jamaal Blackwood (Green Party), Michael Bayer (New Blue Party), and Paul Stark (Ontario Party).

Local Issues

Healthcare dominated the conversation in Brampton East, as it did across all five Brampton ridings. Brampton Civic Hospital, the city’s sole full-service hospital, had roughly 608 beds serving a population of more than 600,000 — one of the worst ratios in the province. Hallway medicine was a persistent problem, with thousands of patients receiving care in hallways annually and occupancy rates regularly exceeding capacity. The NDP had repeatedly called for two new hospitals in Brampton during the 2018–2022 term, but those motions were defeated by the PC majority. The Ford government announced that Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness would eventually become a full-service inpatient hospital, though opposition parties characterized the announcement as misleading.

Highway 413 was the other defining issue. The proposed 400-series highway would cut through the northwest edge of Brampton, and the PCs made it a signature infrastructure promise. The NDP, Liberals, and Greens all pledged to cancel the project, arguing the funds would be better spent on public transit. Environmental groups opposed the highway’s impact on the Greenbelt and agricultural land. The local Liberal candidate’s public departure from her party’s stance against Highway 413 highlighted the issue’s complexity in a city where many residents commute to Toronto and face severe traffic congestion.

Voter turnout was a major concern across Brampton, contributing to the historically low provincial turnout of roughly 43 percent.