The Taste of Cooksville is an annual food festival in Mississauga founded in 2019. Photo shows food being prepared during the 2024 event. (Photo: Visit Mississauga/Taste of Cooksville)
The provincial agency overseeing the $4.6-billion Hurontario Street light-rail transit line has agreed to financially compensate organizers of a Mississauga food festival who complained their event last year was negatively impacted by construction delays, city councillor and mayoral candidate Dipika Damerla said this week.
Damerla, one of four main candidates vying for Mississauga’s highest elected office, said during a Tuesday night mayoral debate that Metrolinx is going to provide compensation to the Cooksville Business Improvement Area, which stages the Taste of Cooksville outdoor festival each September.
Participating alongside former mayor Bonnie Crombie and Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo in a debate hosted by the Canadian-Muslim Vote, Damerla said the City of Mississauga has done “a terrible job so far in holding Metrolinx to account” as it relates to updates on construction of the Hazel McCallion Line.
In making the case that she could better deal with Metrolinx, Damerla said on Tuesday she pushed the provincial agency to pay the Cooksville BIA after its September 2025 Taste of Cooksville event was disrupted due to ongoing construction of the LRT line.
She added festival organizers “couldn’t have the number of … stalls that they wanted because Metrolinx delayed some construction on Dundas (Street). Because of that, (the festival) lost money.”
Damerla argued at a September 2025 Mississauga city council meeting that Metrolinx should show “good faith” and reimburse Taste of Cooksville organizers.
She added during the same meeting that the Cooksville BIA had sent a bill to Metrolinx for about $6,000.
The invoice was sent because of “disruptions caused to the festival,” Damerla noted at the time.
At Tuesday’s debate, Damerla did not say what specific amount of financial compensation the provincial agency agreed to, only that “Metrolinx is going to pay, so that’s the good news, which proves to you that if you stand up to Metrolinx, if you show leadership, you will succeed.”
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Asked to confirm if Metrolinx has provided or plans to provide compensation to organizers of the Taste of Cooksville festival, a spokesperson for the agency told INSAUGA Canada on Thursday, “Metrolinx does not provide details on financial compensation as those matters are confidential.”
An email sent to the Cooksville BIA seeking comment on any compensation from Metrolinx wasn’t immediately returned.
The annual Taste of Cooksville is a weekend event in September that’s held on Dundas Street East, between Hurontario Street and Camilla Road.
Following the September 2025 festival, Damerla, in her complaints about Metrolinx voiced at city council, noted “the Cooksville area has been under construction (for the Hazel McCallion Line) since 2021 — four years. It’s just not acceptable, and nobody says anything … people tend to overlook it. But it’s just not acceptable. How can you have construction continually at some corner or another for four years?”
Metrolinx told INSAUGA Canada in a September 2025 statement that “leading up to the Taste of Cooksville festival, Metrolinx’s Community Engagement team collaborated closely with the Cooksville BIA to ensure the area was ready for the event.”
Furthermore, the statement continued, “Metrolinx provided festival signage, paused work and safely secured the worksite, and held multiple meetings including a walkthrough with the BIA a week before the festival.”
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