{"id":815135,"date":"2026-07-20T23:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815135\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T23:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:18:18","slug":"gloves-comes-off-on-social-media-for-mississauga-mayoral-hopefuls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815135\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloves comes off on social media for Mississauga mayoral hopefuls"},"content":{"rendered":"

See more Toronto Sun on Google \u2014 save as a Preferred Source<\/a><\/p>\n

That was then, and this is now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When incumbent Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish won a June 2024 by-election, replacing Bonnie Crombie as mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city, there seemed to be respect and admiration between them. Heck, maybe even a sense of tradition and kinship. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Crombie\u00a0was\u00a0beaming ear-to-ear\u00a0before she stepped to the microphone,\u00a0hugging\u00a0Parrish\u00a0before she\u00a0even\u00a0got there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I wanted to come and congratulate the mayor-elect,” Crombie said at a news conference. “I am ecstatic Carolyn has won \u2026 I am very proud that you have won.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Waging war on X<\/p>\n

After winning the municipal election in 2022, garnering 78.47% of the vote, Crombie left the city for the role of head of the Ontario Liberal Party in January of 2024. She resigned as party leader in January and now wants her old job back. She declared her intention on July 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parrish was the first to take a poke at Crombie’s actions\u00a0from\u00a0years\u00a0earlier, attaching the\u00a0video\u00a0to her message.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Well, well,” Parrish wrote on X on July 11<\/a>. “Bonnie Crombie announced today, at a community BBQ, that Mississauga needs stable leadership. I agree! I believe in fact we have that now! No aspirations to other levels of government. Total dedication to our city.\u00a0Hopefully\u00a0we all agree with Ms. Crombie!”\u00a0<\/p>\n

During her campaign speech last Tuesday to kick off her run for office, Crombie said she sees “drift, not direction” from the mayor’s chair. A couple of days\u00a0later,\u00a0Crombie was back at it,\u00a0criticizing\u00a0Parrish’s decision to\u00a0resign from\u00a0the\u00a0civilian\u00a0Peel Police Services Board\u00a0in November of 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“A mayor cannot resign in a huff from the Peel Police Services Board, criticize policing from the sidelines during a period of rising crime and expect residents to believe that’s leadership,” Crombie said on an X post\u00a0dated\u00a0July 16.<\/a> “\u2026\u00a0I believe that\u00a0was the wrong decision. It reflects a broader pattern\u00a0we’ve\u00a0seen over the past two years: drift instead of direction, rhetoric instead of results, and a lack of energy,\u00a0engagement\u00a0and vision from a placeholder mayor.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

And while the two most recognizable candidates were trading barbs amongst themselves, candidate Dipika Damerla was getting her message across in a different way.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting the message across<\/p>\n

Damerla finished third in the by-election that Parrish won. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“The World Cup Finals are set, but there are many fouls that\u00a0haven’t\u00a0been addressed in Mississauga,”\u00a0Damerla said, via X<\/a>.\u00a0“The way our city has been\u00a0treated\u00a0the last 4 years deserves a red card.\u00a0It’s\u00a0time to change this.\u00a0It’s\u00a0time for a city that works!”<\/p>\n

In the attached video, dated July 16, Damerka is wearing a black and white striped referees’ hockey jersey, with quick video edits moving her around the city into situations she wants voters to focus on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Yellow card for\u00a0a\u00a0broken cross light button, for an unfilled pothole, red card for illegal dumping,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, mayoral hopeful Alvin\u00a0Tedjo\u00a0briefly mentioned\u00a0the\u00a0past\u00a0with his July 16 X post,<\/a> wanting to move\u00a0beyond\u00a0the\u00a0figureheads\u00a0that have run the city back when\u00a0Hazel McCallion\u00a0started her 36-year run in 1978.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The mayors of the past Mississauga are running again,” Tedjo said.\u00a0“So,\u00a0let’s\u00a0talk about it.\u00a0I believe life,\u00a0every\u00a0year,\u00a0has gotten even more expensive in this city. Our property taxes have kept going up and owning a house feels further out of reach. And after decades of the same politicians, with the same ideas, we are getting the same results.\u00a0And we have to ask ourselves: is more of the same really the answer?\u00a0I\u00a0don’t\u00a0think it is.”<\/p>\n

Tedjo finished runner-up to Parrish\u00a0in the by-election.<\/p>\n

“I believe we are ready for something different\u00a0(with) new leadership and fresh ideas, a\u00a0real plan,” he said.\u00a0“I\u00a0don’t\u00a0believe this election is about the past.\u00a0I believe it\u00a0is about the future\u00a0and\u00a0whether or not\u00a0you can afford to stay here.\u00a0And while\u00a0others\u00a0might come and go, I am going to be in this race\u00a0until\u00a0the very end because I love this city,\u00a0and\u00a0I believe\u00a0our\u00a0best days\u00a0are ahead of us.\u00a0We deserve better than more of the same.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0ganderson@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED VIDEO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"See more Toronto Sun on Google \u2014 save as a Preferred Source That was then, and this is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[77579,49,48,151472,285902,285903,282516,55405,91414,285904],"class_list":["post-815135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mississauga","tag-bonnie-crombie","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolyn-parrish","tag-dipika-damerla","tag-mayor-of-canada","tag-mayor-of-mississauga","tag-mississauga","tag-municipal-election","tag-peel-police-services-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}