By Benjamin Steeves-Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Oct 07, 2026
– Brampton, Mississauga

Coming off the heels of an argumentative debate at Food Banks Mississauga on October 1 that left many residents walking away feeling perplexed, with more questions than answers after candidates repeatedly sparred with each other instead of directly addressing the main topic—affordability—they went head-to-head at a more civil mayoral debate on Monday.

Incumbent Carolyn Parrish faced criticism from her three main opponents, even though she wasn’t there.

“Carolyn, why do you think you don’t need to show up?” Alvin Tedjo asked. “Residents have been asking for the past two years, ‘Where are you?’ Now you’re reapplying for a job, and you don’t want to show up for the interview. Residents deserve better than a part-time mayor. Our voters deserve better than you hiding behind your desk and from your record of tax increases and rising crime. Mississauga deserves better.”

Tedjo’s criticism of rising taxes came after he was one of only three Mississauga council members at the Region of Peel who approved a massive 23.3 percent, $144 million police budget increase for 2025 (a decision that was widely criticized and described as an “utter failure of governance” by Toronto’s former police board chair), the biggest driver of an overall 9.2 percent property tax hike that year. Tedjo also voted against a motion by fellow mayoral candidate Dipika Damerla earlier this year to appoint a permanent auditor general to keep City Hall spending in check and taxes down. 

Hosted at City Hall by POLICORNER on October 5, Parrish did not show up for Monday’s debate, leaving an empty podium on stage next to Bonnie Crombie, Dipika Damerla and Tedjo.

 

Dipika Damerla says she would immediately hire an independent auditor general for Mississauga to cut wasteful spending and bring taxes down. (Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

 

Crombie also levelled criticism at Parrish and said her absence, though irresponsible, would at least help ensure a more constructive debate compared to what unfolded at the previous events.

“We’ve demonstrated leadership in the past, and I know we will again,” Crombie said during her opening remarks. “I know it’s going to be an amicable conversation, not like in the previous two debates.”

Crombie later declared, “Mississauga, it’s time to have a subway,” highlighting one of the key parts of her vision for the city, a new subway line extending from Toronto’s Bloor Line at Kipling Station into the heart of Mississauga.

Crombie connected the subway extension to easing congestion across Mississauga, which has had a significant impact on productivity and quality of life in the city.

“If it’s cost-effective, people will leave their cars, and they will use more public transit. I like the idea of a subway. We’ve been floating it in every town hall we’ve been at, and everyone loves it. We have a premier who loves building subways, so I know that this will catch his attention, and we’re already building the Ontario line. It’s well in the works, and they’re ahead of schedule, so I know that they will just love to have more work ahead of them, and this will be in the plan. We’ll get that done first.”

Damerla hammered home the point that nothing will get done inside City Hall if leadership is absent, which appeared to be a shot at Parrish who has been repeatedly criticized throughout her brief time as mayor since Crombie stepped down in 2024 to take over the Ontario Liberal Party, for being absent in the community, a characterization now dogging Parrish during the campaign after she did not show up for Monday’s debate.

“It is true that the issues in front of us are about affordability, the fact that Mississauga doesn’t feel as safe as it used to, and the fact that our quality of life is lower,” Damerla said Monday. “But the central question is, who do residents believe and trust to address these concerns?”

Damerla highlighted her leadership when she introduced a motion this year to establish an auditor general for the City of Mississauga to get spending under control and lower taxes for residents, a move that was shot down by Parrish and Tedjo who voted against Damerla’s motion. 

 

Alvin Tedjo’s plan for widespread tax freezes has been panned as an election stunt that would cripple seniors in a few years and force more residents out of their homes when the reckless move has to be paid for. (Benjamin Steeves/The Pointer)

 

She said she would reintroduce the motion for an auditor general if she wins, and Crombie said she would also bring in an independent auditor general for the City. “So I have the receipts, and that’s why people will trust me,” Damerla said. “If there’s anyone that this city trusts to establish an independent auditor general at the City of Mississauga, I believe it would be me.”

Crombie said the move would help lower taxes.

“The best way to make life more affordable is to reduce people’s taxes. The tax rate over the past two years has been 15 percent, 10 percent last year and 5.5 percent this year, and only 5.5 percent because $33 million was taken out of a reserve [account] (which is meant for emergency needs) to (reduce) the taxes.”

The most recent polls suggest a tight race, with Crombie pulling slightly ahead of Parrish, Tedjo not far behind and Damerla slipping.

Crombie’s plan to get Mississauga’s first subway line built—a proposed extension of Toronto’s Bloor line that would continue on from Kipling Station into the heart of her city—is creating buzz, with residents reaching out to The Pointer expressing excitement over the vision.

Damerla said, “the one thing the mayor really controls is property taxes, and my commitment is to freeze taxes in 2027. But everybody here is talking about freezing taxes at the City, but the elephant in the room is the Region of Peel, that’s where our taxes are really going up, so my other commitment is to fix the policing formula.” Policing is a regional responsibility in Peel. All twelve Mississauga council members also sit on the 25-member Peel Region Council, joined by nine of Brampton’s council members, three from Caledon and a regional chair who only votes if there is a tie. 

Damerla said if the mayor is not committed to low taxes in Mississauga and at the Region, which accounts for a slightly larger portion of the annual combined property tax bill, “then there’s just no way to fix the affordability crisis.”

Monday’s debate, without Parrish, marked the first one where the issues received the lion’s share of attention, rather than personal attacks and candidates speaking over one another.

Following a more subdued debate hosted by the Mississauga Board of Trade on September 25, the food banks event last week became more of a distraction as coverage ignored the pressing issues voters are facing in the high-growth municipality, instead highlighting the acrimony on stage.

Crombie, the former mayor, who has a one-to-three percent lead over Parrish according to the latest polls (not accounting for the margin of error) joined Damerla and Tedjo in the more issues-based debate on stage Monday as rising property taxes, housing costs, crime, congestion and concerns about government accountability dominated the evening.

Candidates were asked if they would use strong mayor powers to override a majority vote on council. 

Damerla and Tedjo opposed using the powers, which have often been criticized for undermining democratic governance, concentrating authority in the mayor’s hands and creating division on municipal councils.

Crombie said “Maybe” and in the past has mentioned she only used the powers once as mayor, when she felt it was needed to support an affordable housing motion that also triggered tens of millions of dollars in federal funding. She said, at the time, the special powers were used after council made a bad decision to ignore affordable housing and the federal money.

All three candidates said they do not want Mississauga to be part of the Region of Peel anymore, preferring the city be granted independent status like Toronto and others that stand on their own. 

Tedjo has faced criticism during the campaign over his pledge to freeze property taxes for the first two years in office. Damerla, during the Mississauga Food Banks debate last week, questioned him about why wealthier residents should be eligible and how criteria would be established for programs he suggested around property tax support. Tedjo was caught on his back foot and could not answer many of the questions. He has also been criticized for not explaining how millions of dollars in lost revenue would be made up, to ensure residents will not be crippled by even higher taxes and compounding costs in a few years.

Tedjo has been widely panned for pandering to voters with a pledge to permanently freeze property taxes for some seniors by deferring them until their home is eventually sold, when the money would be recouped. 

His opponents have pointed out the move, which has been described on social media as a desperate play for votes, would never pass, even with strong mayor powers. His lack of experience, having served less than one full council term, has been questioned. His opponents have asked him how the city would run without tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue every year, while property taxes for most residents would skyrocket and force many out of their homes. 

Damerla has built a platform around accountability, transparency, reducing policing costs and ensuring residents receive better value for their tax dollars through the hiring of an independent auditor general for Mississauga after her motion earlier this year was voted down. 

On Monday, Tedjo said Parrish’s absence illustrated the type of leader she is and that residents deserve a mayor who is present and accountable to lead the city effectively.

Parrish has said that after attending earlier debates she does not feel the need to participate in similar events when her platform has already been outlined.

 

A screengrab from the POLICORNER Mayoral debate livestream, showcasing Mayor Carolyn Parrish’s absence which candidates characterized as a lack of leadership. (YouTube)

 

During the Food Banks Mississauga debate last week, Parrish emphasized what she said her administration had already accomplished during her two years as mayor.

“The first thing I did after I was elected was put together 25 of our top developers to do a housing task force,” Parrish said. “Their first job was to tell our staff everything we were doing wrong that would take time and money to get their plans approved. It worked extremely well.”

The remarks were not met well by residents who shouted from the crowd, “no more monopolies”.

She said the fees developers pay to City Hall had been reduced, which has raised questions about how the lost revenue meant to pay for critical infrastructure to support growth will be covered. She said the fee cuts to builders will bring down the cost of new homes in the city, which is not supported by data that show incentives given to developers are often enjoyed as extra profits, not passed onto consumers.

 

Carolyn Parrish was criticized for not showing up to a debate on Monday. (Alexis Wright/The Pointer file photo)

 

Parrish defended her record on policing last week, after massive increases to the Peel Police budget became a major point of debate. She approved the 23.3 percent, $144 million increase for 2025 while she sat on the police board, before quitting, claiming she could criticize the force more effectively if she was not part of its direct governance.

“I jumped right off the police services board when the 23.3 [percent increase] came in,” Parrish said during the Food Banks debate, arguing she had continued fighting for Mississauga even after leaving the board. Parrish said that if re-elected she would not sit on the police board.

Her remarks about challenging the police budget, even though she approved it at the board level, sparked immediate reaction from the crowd. One shouted, “You’re a liar,” before he was immediately told to sit back down. Parrish quickly snapped back: “And you’re my best friend.”

Crombie, who sat on the Peel police board for nine years, levelled heavy criticism against Parrish for quitting the police board immediately after she joined it in 2024, when Crombie stepped down as mayor.

“So I will say that people don’t feel as safe as they once did,” Crombie said during Monday’s debate, which Parrish did not attend. “We’ve seen the rash of break-ins, home invasions, carjackings, car thefts. I get those videos in the morning…There was a rash of break-ins on one particular street near UTM, and the residents were scared… we had representatives from Peel Regional Police to give us advice on how to better protect ourselves; what could be done.” She said the board approved specific safety programs for particular neighbourhoods.

“Carolyn Parrish has not been doing her job. She has not worked for the people of Mississauga. She went to a single meeting at the Peel Regional Police board, and then she quit. She quit the board. She quit on all of us. She left the board and said, ‘I don’t want to bother negotiating. I’m not fighting for Mississauga. I’m not making sure that we have enough resources or police in boots on the streets’. And then when we were faced with the budget issue, that’s when she walked away. She walked away. She quit. She abdicated the police board. I think it’s the responsibility of the mayor to sit on the police board. That’s where you learn about community safety. What are the hotspots in the city. What are the police doing about it. And that is where you initiate all kinds of programs, like we did the bodyworn cameras, CCTV cameras, the auto theft summit that we held to help bring down the rate of car thefts, et cetera. But the mayor abdicated, so she learned none of that. When it came time for the chief to present the budget to the board for approval, she didn’t like it, so she quit.” 

Crombie argued that if Parrish thinks the funding formula for Peel police is broken she needs to be at the table to fix it. “She said the funding formula was unfair. We all agree that the funding formula is unfair, but until it’s changed, it is the funding formula. And you sit there and you negotiate knowing that we are going to pick up 62 percent of the tab. It’s not fair, but why quit? Why not sit there and get the best deal for the city and delay some of the increased costs into the future? I think we all support frontline policing. What we don’t believe in is increasing our budget to the degree that it cripples our city.”

Parrish also faced criticism from her opponents at last week’s event over her costly proposal to redevelop the area immediately surrounding City Hall, including the Living Arts Centre.

Tedjo opposed demolishing the Living Arts Centre for the project, while Damerla questioned whether the City should be pursuing the proposal while residents were struggling with affordability.

Crombie presented a different vision of how Mississauga would evolve under her leadership, with a focus on the subway, the coming Hurontario LRT which she helped approve and affordable housing to support these major transit investments along their key corridors. She repeatedly emphasized her experience running the city.

At the Food Banks debate, Crombie introduced her Mississauga 2.0 plan, which draws on transit as the most ambitious part of her platform, including a new subway line to catalyze residential and commercial investment, job creation and significant tax revenue along the corridor to keep costs down for all residents. The same will be done along the Hurontario LRT corridor.

 

Bonnie Crombie is promising Mississauga’s first subway line to ease traffic congestion and attract significant investment and jobs. (Alexis Wright/The Pointer)

 

Tedjo said that while he supports large transit proposals, he would take a different approach.

“Let’s build the light rail. Let’s build the bus rapid transit. Let’s do the actual building that we can in the next four years to get people moving around this city.” 

To control City Hall spending, Crombie proposed a line-by-line examination of spending and said an auditor general should be used to identify where money is being wasted.

But it’s Damerla who has owned the auditor general idea, and she has repeatedly reminded voters that she was the only council member earlier this year pushing for the oversight role.

Tedjo highlighted his plan to create a Mississauga Housing Corporation that would use public land to form partnerships with non-profit and private-sector organizations to build affordable housing.

Damerla and Crombie both said they would work with the federal government to develop co-ops on available land as it could provide deeply affordable homes while also creating stronger communities.

Damerla emphasized over the past week that building the types of homes residents can realistically afford is a priority. She supports missing-middle housing, including six-plexes along certain arterial roads, and said the city needs more options for seniors looking to downsize.

Damerla’s approach to transit is more focused on practical improvements. She proposes adding GO stops along the Lakeshore line and improving connectivity.

She was also the only candidate during the POLICORNER who supported higher transit fares for better MiWay services. 

 

On Monday, when Mississauga mayoral candidates were asked if riders should pay a higher fare for better MiWay services, Bonnie Crombie and Alvin Tedjo voted no, while Dipika Damerla voted in favour. (Screengrab from POLICORNER debate)

 

With advance voting open until October 11 and election day on October 26, Mississauga residents have less than three weeks to make a choice between the four clear frontrunners vying to lead one of Canada’s largest cities. 

 

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