Fennell's first foray into politics was with her 1988 election to
Brampton City Council for Ward 3. In the
1993 federal election she ran as the
Progressive Conservative candidate in the
Brampton riding, finishing
third.
Hockey commissioner Fennell was instrumental in the creation of the
National Women's Hockey League, the premier women's hockey league in North America. She served as its founding commissioner from its inception in 1999 until her retirement in July 2006.
As mayor In 2000, Fennell defeated three-term incumbent
Peter Robertson for the Brampton mayoralty. She was re-elected in 2003, defeating councillor Bill Cowie by a 28% margin. In 2010, Fennell was elected to her fourth term with 50.68% of the vote. She acted to protect Brampton's position on Peel Regional Council, including negotiating with the designated provincial facilitator, Justice George Adams. However, the Ontario Legislature voted against the recommendation and instead increased the seats on Peel Regional Council in Mississauga's favour instead of allotting more in Brampton's favour to provide for future population growth in Brampton as was recommended by the provincial facilitator. While mayor, Fennell twice served as chair of the
Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Infrastructure and Transportation Committee, as well as being a part of the Federal Big City Mayor's Caucus (BCMC). In 2007 she was elected chair of the FCM Federal Ontario Municipal Caucus and continues to serve in this role after her re-election at the 2012 FCM AGM in Saskatoon. Fennell is accused of secretly and illegally lowering her own salary in 2013 to avoid, for the second consecutive year, being publicised as the highest-paid mayor in Canada; Brampton is the ninth-largest city. Mayor Fennell chose to voluntarily not accept the council-assigned pay, thereby lowering her salary by 20 percent. Fennell voluntarily removed a Marketing, Advertising and Promotion Account ($60K/year) from her 2014 budget. Council colleagues attacked various budget items, including expenditures for a 'vehicle' and a 'contract driving service, for 10 years'. A company "run by a close friend of hers" is under investigation for over $100,000 in non-competitive municipal contracts. As the parties involved needed an opportunity to seek legal advice, regardless of the merit (or spuriousness) of the claims, this tactic served to defer a key debate preventing council ruling on inappropriate spending in the last sitting of the Brampton council prior to the 2014 election. A Deliotte audit found that Fennell and her staff violated spending rules 266 times over 7 years, with a further 79 transactions that may have violated spending rules. Fennell overturned a council decision in late 2014 that deprived her of salary and ordered that she repay taxpayers for using an expensive car service. Days before the 2014 municipal election, Arbitrator Janet Leiper ruled that Fennell violated expense rules in just two occasions, according to Fennell. ==Honours==