Poverty, housing and food security will be among the issues discussed when Mississauga’s four main mayoral candidates meet on stage for the first major debate of the municipal election campaign in early October.

Food Banks Mississauga and the Metamorphosis Network are co-hosting the mayoral debate on Oct. 1 from 7-9 p.m. at FBM’s warehouse on Eastgate Parkway in the city’s east end.

Organizers said the four top polling candidates — currently incumbent Carolyn Parrish, Bonnie Crombie and city councillors Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla — will be invited to take part in the debate. Participants will be confirmed by Sept. 18.

The debate is being held “to ensure that poverty alleviation, including income and housing security, and food security are key platform issues for Mississauga mayoral candidates,” event organizers said in an online description of the upcoming debate.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish, at right, and former mayor Bonnie Crombie will debate key Mississauga issues on Oct. 1.

Food Banks Mississauga, which until 2023 operated as The Mississauga Food Bank, oversees 60-plus agencies/food programs within its network across Canada’s seventh-largest city.

The Metamorphosis Network is an umbrella group comprised of more than 100 non-profit community services agencies in Peel that have joined forces to ensure key services are “fully funded, effective and meet the needs of the community.”

As voters prepare to go to the polls in Mississauga and across Ontario in the Oct. 26 municipal election, FBM officials say the agency’s vast network “continues to serve record-breaking numbers of food bank users, and food insecurity is on the rise with no end in sight.”

They added voters who attend the Oct. 1 debate “can hear directly from the candidates on their vision and strategies for addressing key issues facing the city like poverty alleviation and food security.”

Mississauga Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla.

Registration for the in-person debate will open on Sept. 1, organizers said.

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In the meantime, they urge residents to complete an anonymous survey to let organizers know what they want to hear discussed at the debate.

In a recent interview with INsauga.com, Parrish said she plans to participate in no more than three mayoral debates, including the Oct. 1 event, in advance of the Oct. 26 election.

Crombie, meanwhile, told INsauga.com she’ll take part in as many debates as she can work into her schedule.

“I’m not limiting myself,” she said.

Mayoral race is set at 14 candidates

Following the Aug. 21 deadline to register for the 2026 municipal election, 14 names appeared on the list of hopefuls looking to occupy the mayor’s seat in Mississauga for the next term of council.

The two highest-profile candidates — Parrish and her predecessor, Crombie — are joined in the contest by city councillors Tedjo (Ward 2) and Damerla (Ward 7) and 10 others of varying experience in the realm of political campaigning.

Mississauga Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo.

Citing a recent Liaison Strategies poll that found Parrish and Crombie each at 35 per cent among decided and leaning voters, with the remaining candidates well behind, the former mayor and her campaign team said last Friday it’s “a clear two-way race.”

Crombie, who left the Mississauga mayor’s post in 2024 after 10 years to lead the Ontario Liberals and take a shot at unseating the premier, said she’s looking to reclaim the seat because she believes better days are ahead for the city.

“Everywhere I go, I hear the same concerns,” Crombie said in an Aug. 21 news release. “Life has become too expensive. People are worried about safety. Traffic and congestion are taking too much time away from families. And residents want to know that City Hall is focused on getting things done.

“I’m running because I believe Mississauga can do better,” she continued. “We can make life more affordable, build safer neighbourhoods and get our city moving again.”

Incumbent doesn’t trust latest poll

Parrish told INsauga.com in an Aug. 21 interview she doesn’t trust the results of the Liaison Strategies poll, saying “I don’t believe that at all.”

Not only does the incumbent believe she’s doing better than a tie with her predecessor, but she doesn’t view the race as being such an obvious two-candidate competition.

“It’s very presumptuous” to suggest it’s a clear two-way race, said Parrish, adding “I think it’s an open race” in which both Damerla and Tedjo should not be counted out.

Parrish said the two sitting councillors “have been working hard,” have support and she doesn’t think they’re doing as poorly as the poll indicates. The Liaison Strategies sampling of voters had Damerla at 18 per cent and Tedjo at 12 per cent.

As for her own campaign, the incumbent told INsauga.com she’s feeling “very confident, I’m getting a lot of support (in the community), fundraising is going well and I have a great team.”

Parrish and Crombie have battled in a previous campaign

Parrish added her accomplishments the past two years since winning a mayoral byelection in June 2024 to succeed Crombie speak for themselves, have solidified support for her across the city and bode well for her in the upcoming election.

The two highest-profile mayoral candidates have gone head-to-head in a heated municipal election campaign prior to 2026, with Crombie defeating Parrish (2,479 votes to 2,239 votes) in a September 2011 byelection for the Ward 5 council seat.

The other 10 candidates for mayor of Mississauga are:

David Shaw — ran in both the 2024 mayoral byelection and 2022 municipal election for mayor. Registered to run May 1
Mike Matulewicz — ran in the 2024 mayoral byelection. Registered to run May 5
Amjad Jilani — registered to run July 14
Frank Fang — ran in the 2024 mayoral byelection and competed for the Ward 9 council seat in the 2022 municipal election. Registered to run July 15
Fadi Naami — registered to run July 20
Karam Ahmed — registered to run Aug. 20
Aamir Bhatti — registered to run Aug. 21
Gord Elliott — registered to run Aug. 21
Mohsin Khan — registered to run Aug. 18
Ana Luisa Vasquez De Espinal — registered to run Aug. 11

For more information on who’s running and the election in general, visit the city’s election page online.


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