Thursday night’s Mississauga mayoral debate featured a series of heated, sometimes personal exchanges between the current office holder and her predecessor.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie, who previously faced one another in a 2011 city council race, traded sharp personal attacks and insults as the four main candidates squared off in the second mayoral debate of the campaign.

City councillors Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla also took part in the 90-minute event that was hosted by Food Banks Mississauga and the Metamorphosis Network. The debate took place at FBM’s warehouse in the city’s east end.

Debate organizers said earlier they hosted the event “to ensure that poverty alleviation, including income and housing security, and food security are key platform issues for Mississauga mayoral candidates.”

While those issues were addressed by the four candidates during Thursday night’s debate, the session often featured Parrish and Crombie taking each other to task on various issues and who’d be more dedicated to the job as Mississauga’s top elected official.

Parrish, who won a mayoral byelection in June 2024 to succeed Crombie after the latter left to become leader of the Ontario Liberals, has challenged her rival’s motives for wanting to return to the post after having left it for the provincial job.

Crombie insists she took a run at becoming premier of Ontario so she could advocate for Mississauga from that position.

She told INSAUGA Canada on Thursday it would’ve been “great for Mississauga” if she had defeated Premier Doug Ford in the February 2025 election.

In an earlier interview, Crombie, who was mayor from 2014 to 2024 before moving on to provincial politics, told INSAUGA Canada that Mississauga has always been “where my heart is.”

Last 30 Days: 54,653 Votes

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Do election debates change who you vote for?

Hours before last night’s debate, Crombie said in an interview with INSAUGA Canada the 2026 mayoral campaign in Mississauga has been “a lot more negative than I had hoped,” and that is has been “nasty” at times.

Parrish, Crombie, Tedjo and Damerla, the top four polling candidates in the 14-candidate mayoral race, will meet on stage for one more debate before voters go to the polls Oct. 26.

The final debate in which Parrish plans to participate takes place on Oct. 15 at Christ First United Church on Lakeshore Road West. It’s organized by the Town of Port Credit Association, Lakeview Ratepayers Association, Port Credit Legion and Port Credit Community Foundation.

The other three main candidates are also confirmed.

Meanwhile, Crombie, Tedjo and Damerla will participate in an Oct. 5 mayoral candidates debate at Mississauga City Hall. That’s being hosted by Policorner, an organization that reports on politics and related happenings at Queen’s Park.

Parrish will not take part in a fourth debate

Organizers said that event, which is open to the public, will bring together mayoral candidates “for a 90-minute debate on the future of the province’s fourth-largest city.”

Parrish told INSAUGA Canada earlier she will not take part in that debate due to other commitments. Her decision to pass on the Oct. 5 event brought about criticism from her three main rivals last week.

Parrish and Crombie have gone head-to-head in a heated municipal election campaign prior to 2026. Crombie defeated Parrish (2,479 votes to 2,239 votes) in a September 2011 byelection for the Ward 5 council seat.

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.”

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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