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\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nIt was a debate that pitted an incumbent mayor and a former three-term mayor of Mississauga against two city councillors who believe the city is ready for a new look and new ideas.<\/p>\n
The 90-minute Mississauga mayoral debate moderated by CityNews\u2019 Mark McAllister on Thursday night had some heated moments, personal attacks, and a few mic drop zingers as each candidate tried to separate themselves from the pack while defending their respective track records.<\/p>\n
The debate format touched on several key themes affecting residents of Mississauga. <\/p>\n
Each participant, Carolyn Parrish, Bonnie Crombie, Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla, was confronted with a question, followed by an open debate. Here\u2019s what unfolded.<\/p>\n
Theme 1: Affordability and cost of living tied to U.S. trade war<\/p>\n
A recent Canada Pulse Insights poll for CityNews asked Mississauga residents to pick the three most important issues facing the city from a list of 22. Affordability and the cost of living topped the list, at 45 per cent. More and more people are finding it difficult to make ends meet while businesses, companies, and entire sectors are impacted by an unstable economy as a result of tariffs and the trade war with the U.S.<\/p>\n
The rising cost of food products have impacted grocery prices and 1 in 17 Mississauga residents are using a food bank \u2014 with even more relying on them for prolonged support.<\/p>\n
Question: \u201cWhat specific actions and policies would you want to implement, as quickly as possible, that would ease the burden and lower the cost of living for residents?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dipika Damerla: \u201cThe two things that city hall controls directly that residents pay for are property taxes and user fees. And that\u2019s why my plan is about freezing property taxes next year and then to keep property taxes as low as possible after that \u2026 the single most powerful thing that city hall can do is to freeze the taxes and then going forward keep them low.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about protecting the jobs that are tariff hit, but it\u2019s about creating an ecosystem of start ups, of new businesses, of being business-friendly so that we can attract more businesses here big and small to create the jobs we need.<\/p>\n
Bonnie Crombie: \u201cWe need to keep our city more affordable let\u2019s start with your taxes, that is something under our control, your taxes went up 15 per cent in the last two years, 10 per cent last year and another 5.5 per cent this year \u2026 Under by administration all three of them voted for the budget, we voted for 1.7 per cent at the city and an average over nine years \u2026 of 3.4 per cent. Let\u2019s start with making your life more affordable.<\/p>\n
\u201cRent at $2700? We\u2019ve gotta work to make more purpose-built rental properties that are affordable.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alvin Tedjo: \u201cIt\u2019s always about affordability \u2026 I\u2019m proud of the record that I was able to do as councillor, we introduced free transit fares for kids to help families afford to use transit, we introduced new utility rate cuts for seniors for low income and for low water users, but we need to do so much more and the plan I\u2019ve put forward is to freeze those property taxes, not just for one year, but for two years at minimum \u2026 and if we can do it for longer, we\u2019ll do it for longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need to help the seniors who built this city afford to live here too. And I have a plan to freeze their property taxes permanently by deferring them to the sale of their home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carolyn Parrish: \u201cWell it would be very nice if we could freeze senior\u2019s taxes and it would be very nice to freeze everybody\u2019s taxes, but as we\u2019ve seen the cost of fuel is going up, the operation of the city is going up, 80 per cent of our budgets are going to wages that go to union people that are also hungry and also requiring increases every time they do their settlements, so it\u2019s very nice to say we\u2019re going to freeze senior\u2019s taxes, but then somebody else has to pick that share up, young people with families, we can\u2019t freeze taxes, we can do the very best we can \u2026 we also have an economic development staff who are bringing businesses and investment into our city every day.<\/p>\n
Key clash during open debate portion<\/p>\n
Bonnie Crombie stressed the city needs an auditor general to look into what she called out-of-control spending by the current administration. \u201cLet\u2019s go line by line, let\u2019s see why this council has been on a spending spree, where that money has been going, and let\u2019s stop the bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parrish replied: \u201cBonnie Crombie had 10 years to hire an auditor general,\u201d referring to her previous tenures as Mississauga mayor. <\/p>\n
Theme 2: Housing and Homelessness<\/p>\n
Beyond the basic cost of living, entering the housing market remains a challenge. Affordable housing is limited and while the average monthly rent has slightly dropped in the last couple of years, it remains extremely high.<\/p>\n
For those experiencing homelessness, the shelter system is overcapacity right now and, as of last month, there were 10 active encampments in Mississauga alone.<\/p>\n
Before tonight\u2019s debate, Food Banks Mississauga and Metamorphosis asked residents to submit questions in advance. <\/p>\n
This is one that was received from community members.<\/p>\n
Question 1: What specific, measurable policies will you implement in your first year to create deeply affordable housing, protect current renters from renovictions, and providing tangible support for our unhoused neighbours?\u201d<\/p>\n
Crombie: \u201cI think if we eliminate development charges we will make the cost of building lower and we will make the price to the purchaser, the family that will move in, lower, and of course the cities would have to be repaid from the federal or provincial governments for lost revenue. But there\u2019s\u2019 so much we can do, emergency rent assistance for people who might be evicted from homes, look at alternatives, work with the churches who have vast parking lots that we can build on \u2026 look at our mall space \u2026 we could use them for affordable housing \u2026 let\u2019s give people options.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedjo: \u201cI think we all agree that we need more housing \u2026 We need to make it easier for all types of housing, the supportive housing that we need to incentivize, rental housing, we need to really focus on how do we approve those conditions so that people actually start building.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parrish: There is no single solution and our council \u2026 has done more in two years than were done in the 10 years before. The developers are telling me that Mississauga, next to Oakville was the most difficult place to build in, the most difficult place to get permits in, the most difficult place to get rezoning so we fixed that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damerla: \u201cWhen it comes to deeply affordable housing we cannot rely on the market, that\u2019s the reality \u2026 when it comes to homelessness residents want two things, they want the homeless dealt with with dignity but they also want safe neighbourhoods and both things can be true and both things are valid and we have to get that balance right \u2026 we need to have a city-wide task force and as mayor I will lead on that\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Key clash during open debate portion<\/p>\n
After incumbent Carolyn Parrish and former three-term Mississauga Mayor Bonnie clashed over who was more culpable for a lack of affordable housing being built, Alvin Tedjo pounced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of the problem,\u201d he said, of their bickering. \u201cWe need a change, we need a change in leadership to get these housing units built.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theme 3: Taxes and municipal spending<\/p>\n
Taxes, the budget, and spending were also brought up in polling for CityNews as top issues for residents. Property taxes have steadily risen in recent years, adding to the economic challenges that many Mississauga residents are facing. <\/p>\n
This year they rose by 5.21 per cent and a record 9.2 per cent in 2025, resulting in a demand for greater financial accountability at City Hall.<\/p>\n
Question 1: Can taxpayers expect to see rates rise, stay the same level or be reduced under your leadership and what will you do to better balance the books?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedjo: \u201cThis is incredibly important \u2026 how do we help? We do it by freezing their property taxes at zero and for seniors, they can choose to defer their property taxes until the sale of their home \u2026 that\u2019s how we help people stay in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parrish: \u201cWe have just done a study \u2026 looking at all the subsidies we give seniors on property tax, we had the best record in all the GTA, so that is already doable, that\u2019s not a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damerla: \u201cThe single most important thing that council can do when it comes to affordability is keep those taxes low \u2026 the intent is let\u2019s keep those taxes low without cutting services. <\/p>\n
Crombie: \u201cI\u2019m going to go back to we need a more sustainable tax rate that\u2019s at the rate of inflation I\u2019m going to reiterate that mine was 1.7 per cent at the city which everyone voted for and average of 3.4 per cent over the nine years. I also want to talk about freezing taxes because I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a sustainable solution, it just puts you deeper into debt and deeper into a (problematic) situations and it also shifts the burden onto younger families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Key Clash during open debate portion<\/p>\n
Damerla attacked Tedjo\u2019s property tax plans. \u201cThe problem Alvin is that your plan still has no details .. you\u2019re misleading, you keep saying it\u2019s a property tax freeze for seniors, you do not even have the word defer on your website \u2026 and there\u2019s no details is this for wealthy seniors? If it\u2019s for wealthy seniors how is that fair? You know what a wealthy senior is going to do? Not pay taxes, save that money and play the stock market while young families get more and more far behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
To that Tedjo snapped back, \u201cI\u2019m the only one here with a young family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Theme 4: Community safety and policing<\/p>\n
Residents are concerned about public safety, and while crime rates have recently decreased,\u00a0 violent crime and car thefts are still a major concern. In recent years, there has been a significant rise in the policing budget, but many residents are questioning if the additional money is actually helping address their concerns.<\/p>\n
Question: Let\u2019s start with what the police budget should be directed toward in order to try and curb the crime and offences people are concerned about. Do you believe there should be a larger presence or more investment in community and prevention programs? How would you prioritize funding so residents feel safe?<\/p>\n
Parrish: \u201cCommunity safety is one of the most basic responsibilities of government. Clearly the (police) force was allowed to fall badly behind through the last few years 2017-2022 our population increased by 130,000 and they only increased police by 36 a year and our 911 calls were increased by 479,000 \u2026 safety is one of the most important functions that we have as your politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damerla: \u201cCrime has changed in Mississauga and we need to change and adapt. What I\u2019d like to do is modernize, we need CCTV cameras. The world over when there\u2019s organized crime that you\u2019re dealing with you use modern technology \u2026 here are the facts in the last five years our police budget has gone up 80 per cent, at the same time the rate at which we are solving crimes ahs actually gone done and the reason is we need to use more technology and we need to fix our criminal justice system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crombie: \u201cPeople in this community aren\u2019t feeling as safe as they once did, we are seeing rashes of break-ins, home invasions, car jackings, car thefts \u2026 I am proud of my tenure on the (police) board, I did help keep our budget in line \u2026 We need to invest in more technology to modernize policing to bring down the costs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tedjo: \u201cFor ten years we had the lowest number of officers for any major city in Ontario. And so when we had to make the difficult decision as to whether or not we needed to hire people to make our streets safe again, I had to make that decision, because I was talking to every single person who felt so helpless in their communities, who can\u2019t take another break-in \u2026 Not every single problem requires a police solution. Which is why we have a plan for community safety that is going to enhance supports for the other social determinants of crime, that is an important piece that we need to do too. But we have to get the basics right, we have to support the people that keep this community safe\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tMississauga mayoral candidates square off in a debate on Thursday, October 1, 2026. <\/p>\n
\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n
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