TORONTO — Why does Brampton get so much hate in the GTA? People who call the city home love B-town. There are lots of green spaces and places to go on walks, great places to go for a bite to eat, and beautiful buildings around the city. But some people in the GTA had a different take.
People on the streets told The Brandon Gonez Show that they have heard good things about Brampton, mentioning the cuisine and it being the hometown of rapper Tory Lanez. Several famous people are from Brampton, actor Michael Cera and singer Aleissa Cara, and comedian Russel Peters are all from B-Town. But some people just don’t like the city.
“It’s a bad vibe,” one man told Brandon.
There was a lot of talk about the city’s reputation on social media as well, and how all of the news out of Brampton seems to be bad news. Brandon spoke to some notable people from B-Town about how they feel about the city.
“We felt like they’d expect the worst from us so we can do no wrong, even if it’s a bad video it’s like ‘oh they’re from Brampton,’ but if we make a good video it’s like ‘The guys from Brampton came through,’” said Jae Richards of 4YE.
“We got a lot of respect for putting Brampton in the videos,” Richards added.
He says that Brampton needs more resources to foster creativity and culture in the city.
“I can’t tell you how alone we felt when we started,” Trey Richards told Brandon that he thinks if Brampton had the resources that Toronto had, the city would have a better reputation.
“We needed spaces to be creative where other creatives were hanging out,” Jae Richards explained.
“If we had more resources in Brampton, which we’d love to bring in the future, I feel like it would foster a lot more creatives,” he added.
4YE has a new Crave show coming out, and they plan on using the platform to showcase Brampton.
“I want to be in Brampton every chance I get,” Jae said, explaining that they want to show the places that they came up, including parking lots where they used to film in B-Town.
Other Brampton celebrities include various athletes, including Khloe Kardashian’s beau Tristan Thompson, and Team Canada’s Jonathan Osorio.
“There’s a lot of talent in Brampton, not only in sports, but in arts and entertainment there is so much talent,” said Osario, who also plays for Toronto FC.
Osorio joined the Brampton Youth Soccer club at the age of 12-years-old. He told Brandon that six or seven of his teammates on Team Canada are also from Brampton. Osorio told Brandon he believes the ample green spaces in Brampton are one of the reasons that so many accomplished athletes come from the West-End city.
“There are fields everywhere where you can kick a ball around with your friends, that definitely could be a reason why ,” explained Osario.
The city is known for its flowers. It was once known as Flowertown because of all the greenhouses in Brampton. At one point the Brampton greenhouses produced more fresh cut flowers than any other city in the world.
Brandon spoke to Malkeet Sanduh of The David Suzuki Foundation, who said that the city could be doing more to help the environment.
“In Canada over half of our greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation and buildings, and both of those things are actually managed at the municipal level,” Sanduh said.
“They’re doing things like trying to get better active transportation infrastructure like bike lanes and pedestrian areas, and when it comes to public transportation they have some cool projects like the LRT,” she explained.
Sanduh told Brandon that Brampton has the added benefit of having lots of greenspaces and parks, which absorb carbon emissions.
The city is recommending anyone who wants to see a change in Brampton should be attending town hall meetings to have their voice heard. Information on meetings can be found here.
