Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he doesn’t like getting involved in municipal politics — specifically, mayoral elections — but he made an exception during a stop in Mississauga on Wednesday morning.

In the city to deliver details of a provincial proposal that will make it easier for people to buy new homes, the premier was asked by a reporter near the end of a 35-minute press conference to weigh in on a potential clash of political heavyweights in the Mississauga mayoral race to take place in October.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish, among those on hand alongside Ford for Wednesday’s housing announcement, said earlier she plans to run for re-election one more time.

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish.

Meanwhile, Bonnie Crombie, who stepped down as mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city just over two years ago to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party (since resigned from that post as well), has said she wouldn’t rule out another run for the mayor’s seat in Mississauga.

Crombie’s Liberals were defeated soundly by Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in the February 2025 provincial election, the latter re-elected to a third consecutive majority government, the first time a party has accomplished that since 1959.

The Liberal Party, while second in the popular vote, wound up with 14 seats to finish third in that measure behind the PCs and NDP.

Not only did her Liberals lose the election in decisive fashion, but Crombie — Mississauga’s mayor from 2014 to 2024 — failed to win her seat in Mississauga East-Cooksville, losing to Conservative candidate Silvia Gualtieri.

Crombie subsequently announced her resignation as Liberal leader earlier this year, on Jan. 14.

Ford didn’t mince words on Wednesday when asked if he’d get involved should Crombie take on Parrish for the mayor’s seat later in 2026. The premier and former Liberal leader have maintained a publicly contentious relationship that ranges from bickering to sharp personal attacks and policy disagreements.

“You know something, I never get involved in municipal elections, but I will send an army down here to make sure I support Mayor Parrish,” said Ford, who earlier in the press conference heaped praise on Mississauga’s current mayor, describing Parrish as “an absolute champ.”

Former mayor of Mississauga Bonnie Crombie.

Thoughts back to Crombie, the premier continued, opining Mississauga was “an absolute disaster under Bonnie Crombie; rose taxes like they’d never seen before, cut off everything about housing. She was an absolute disaster. So what I say to (former) mayor Bonnie Crombie — bring it on. Let’s go. We’re ready.”

The next municipal election will be held on Oct. 26.

After stepping down as leader of the Ontario Liberals in January, Crombie said in a written statement to the media she was “looking forward to spending more time with my family, including welcoming my first grandchild, while giving the party the space it needs to move forward with new leadership.”

However, buoyed by the results of a poll last October, Crombie said at that time she wouldn’t rule out another run for the Mississauga mayor’s seat. She succeeded longtime Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion in 2014 and won re-election twice before leaving the post in January 2024 to become leader of Ontario’s Liberal Party.

Though Crombie officially resigned as leader of the Liberals in January, she decided last September to step down after receiving just 57 per cent support in a leadership vote at the party’s annual general meeting.

Parrish, a longtime politician who served on Mississauga city council for 13 years in addition to the same amount of time as an MP in Ottawa, won a mayoral byelection in June 2024 to succeed Crombie.

The Mississauga mayor told INsauga.com in an interview late in 2025 that she planned to serve no more than one more term in the seat.

Parrish also said at the time the notion of Crombie eyeing a return to the Mississauga mayor’s office — as Crombie’s own words indicated — was just fine with her.

She said she’d view such a development as “a fabulous challenge,” adding “I’d love it. We don’t think alike.

“… I would look forward to a debate with Bonnie Crombie.”


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