Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish (right) and former mayor Bonnie Crombie engaged in a social media war of words on Thursday.

The mayoral race in Mississauga is heating up with the two highest-profile candidates — the current mayor and her predecessor — locking horns in a war of words on Thursday night.

With the 2026 municipal election less than three months away, the incumbent in Canada’s seventh-largest city, Mayor Carolyn Parrish, and former mayor Bonnie Crombie, who left the post in 2024 after 10 years to lead the Ontario Liberals and take a shot at unseating the premier, exchanged opinions last night on a matter that came before Mississauga city council on Wednesday.

No, it wasn’t a formal candidates’ debate. Rather, Parrish and Crombie fired comments back and forth on social media platform X.

“Yesterday, Carolyn Parrish chose not to vote on the data centre issue,” Crombie wrote in a post a few minutes after 8 p.m. on Thursday in reference to an issue that drew two dozen or so deputants to Wednesday’s council meeting.

“This is yet another example of how our city is drifting under her leadership,” the former mayor’s post continued. “We need a mayor who leads, makes her position known and is accountable for the tough decisions.”

Mayoral byelection in Mississauga was held in 2024

Parrish, who won a mayoral byelection in June 2024 to succeed Crombie, responded to the initial post created by her opponent.

“The chair of a democratically conducted meeting is mandated not to influence the outcome of debate. Ergo, they don’t speak and they don’t vote,” Parrish wrote in response. “But you never really understood that. You abandoned our city, failed to win a local riding and ended up turfed by your party. Nice attempt at giving me lessons.”

In defending her position, Parrish cited both Robert’s Rules of Order and Bourinot’s Rules of Order, adding in her response that “chairs vote to break ties or create ties — thereby defeating weakly endorsed results. In a democracy, every member should be free to vote according to conscience and directions of their constituents.”

Crombie posted several more times Thursday night and added another on Friday morning.

In response to one of Crombie’s subsequent posts late Thursday, Parrish replied, simply: “Looking forward to the debates.”

Parrish says she’ll take part in three debates

Parrish told INsauga.com in an interview on Friday morning she plans to participate in no more than three mayoral debates in advance of the Oct. 26 election — and the debate stage is exactly where the issues should be discussed, she noted.

The incumbent said back-and-forth exchanges on social media can become “silly” and don’t serve the best interests of the public.

“If you don’t respond (to social media posts), it looks like what she’s saying is right” and if “I do respond, it keeps it going,” Parrish told INsauga.com, adding it’s a “no-win” situation.

As far as the content of Thursday’s posts is concerned, the mayor contends Crombie is “grasping at straws” and “she’s been sniping for the last two weeks.”

Parrish said she looks forward to locking horns with Crombie — and other mayoral candidates — during upcoming debates.

“I will take her on with great joy and energy” in debates, Parrish said, adding she’s confident in what she has accomplished in two years as mayor versus Crombie’s record over 10 years in the seat.

Yesterday, Carolyn Parrish chose not to vote on the data centre issue.

This is yet another example of how our city is drifting under her leadership.

We need a mayor who leads, makes her position known, and is accountable for the tough decisions.#onpoli #cdnpoli

— Bonnie Crombie 🇨🇦 (@BonnieCrombie) July 31, 2026

The two 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.

“That (campaign) got really nasty in the last couple of weeks,” Parrish told INsauga.com on Friday.

Several attempts to reach Crombie for comment weren’t immediately returned.

9 candidates running for mayor

To date, nine candidates for mayor of Mississauga have entered the race, among them two sitting city councillors — Alvin Tedjo (Ward 2) and Dipika Damerla (Ward 7) — in addition to Parrish and Crombie. Former candidate Olivia Gannon withdrew her name on Friday morning.

Frank Fang, who ran in the 2024 mayoral byelection in Mississauga, and Fadi Naami registered to run in the past two weeks. Fang also competed for the Ward 9 council seat in the 2022 municipal election.

David Shaw, Mike Matulewicz and Amjad Jilani round out the field of candidates officially entered in the contest as of Friday. Shaw ran in both the 2024 mayoral byelection and the 2022 municipal election (for mayor) while Matulewicz was also among the 20 candidates to run in the city’s mayoral byelection just over two years ago.

Mississauga Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo.

Candidate nominations opened May 1 and continue untl Aug. 21 at 2 p.m.

For more information on who’s running, how to become a candidate and the election in general, visit the city’s election page online.

The dynamic of the 2026 race for mayor of Mississauga changed dramatically in mid-July when Crombie officially entered the fray. The move ended months of speculation as to whether the former mayor, who succeeded Hazel McCallion in 2014 and served until 2024, would once again seek the top elected position in the city.

What was already shaping up to be an interesting mayoral competition in Mississauga is now set to be one of the most closely watched races in Ontario as voters prepare to head to the polls on Oct. 26.

Under Crombie’s leadership, the Ontario Liberals were defeated soundly by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in the February 2025 provincial election. Later that year, she first put the take-another-run-at-Mississauga-mayor notion out there when she said she wouldn’t rule out another run for the position.

Mississauga Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla.


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