Ontario councillor went to Dubai to meet a company already partnered with a local university [Video]

In the spring of 2023, a councillor and city staffer set off on a brief trip from Ontario to the United Arab Emirates to try to attract a company, already partnered with a local university, to invest further in their city.

Coun. Gurpartap Toor of Brampton, Ont., along with city and Algoma University staff, went to Dubai in April last year to attend a “developer day” for a major tech company, Unity, and meet with its executives.

The meeting went so well, according to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s office, that he amended a trip he was taking to Pakistan to “make one final pitch” to the company in Abu Dhabi at his own expense.

More than a year after those meetings took place, however, the university involved, Algoma, said it has not signed a new agreement with the company, nor did it sign one during the trip.

Receipts and travel itineraries …