Affordability, housing top issues ahead of Mississauga by-election

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In one week’s time, the residents of Mississauga will elect their third mayor in nearly half a century.

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Following Hazel McCallion’s 36 years in the mayor’s chair and Bonnie Crombie’s decade in office, residents will head to the polls June 10 in a special byelection. The vote is required because Crombie became leader of the Ontario Liberal Party in December and resigned from office in January.

Interest is high for the job as a record 20 candidates entered the race, including Carolyn Parrish, who resigned her council seat to run; current councillors, Dipika Damerla, Stephen Dasko and Alvin Tedjo; and Brian Crombie, a real estate development company COO and ex-husband of the former mayor.

According to a recent poll conducted by Liaison Strategies for the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada, Parrish is leading all candidates with 29% support of decided voters and 25% of all voters, reports Global News.

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Damerla is closing in on Parrish with 24% of overall and 20% of decided voters backing her, with Tedjo and Dasko not far behind. The poll also shows support for Crombie is in the high single digits.

The list of issues the city is facing includes the affordability and housing crisis, rising vehicle thefts, and traffic congestion.

Parrish says she aims to improve the lives of residents by keeping property tax increases at or below the cost of living.

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She also pledges to work toward making community members feel safer by hiring more police officers when necessary, and to lobby for bail reform and harsher penalties for vehicle thefts.

“While still rated as one of Canada’s safest large cities, the recent doubling of car thefts with the associated incidents of break-ins and assaults has made our citizens feel vulnerable,” her campaign website states.

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She also promises to improve public transportation so that ridership increases, while holding consultations when streets are set to be repaved to evaluate the need for speed humps and cycling curbs.

Damerla’s plan as mayor incorporates a focus on law and order that would include looking at bringing back community police stations, and a $10,000 Crime Stoppers reward for tips that lead to a conviction for auto theft. She also pledges to advocate for auto theft to be treated as organized crime and for bail reform.

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Damerla also stresses the need for smarter growth in the city.

“Over the next decade, Mississauga is expected to grow rapidly as we address the acute housing shortage and build more homes,” says her campaign website. “This growth comes with a risk – if it is done wrong, it will make our city unlivable. Growth done right, however, will make our city both affordable and livable.”

Damerla also opposes the plan to remove vehicle lanes on Bloor St. to make way for bike lanes.

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“Let me be very clear – I am not ideological about bike lanes,” she says. “Bike lanes make sense in some places and don’t make sense in others. Removing car lanes on this stretch of Bloor St. will create chaos and congestion.”

A fellow councillor, Tedjo says his priority is to help make living in Mississauga more affordable by imposing a property tax freeze until 2026, to provide residents 65 years or older with a property tax rebate of $420 if their household income is lower than $60,000, and to reduce property taxes for small businesses by 15%.

“Young professionals looking to call Mississauga home, seniors looking to age in place, families with kids like mine, we are all feeling the price of everything go up and there does not seem to be any relief,” Tedjo’s campaign website states.

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He has a plan to ease the housing crisis by advocating for missing middle housing, adding density in key core areas, allowing homes on underutilized lands, and cutting red tape to speed up planning approvals.

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He also promises to create a municipal task force to fight auto theft, while working with other levels of government to crack down on crime.

Meanwhile, Dasko pledges to make Mississauga affordable, safe and livable.

“People are struggling with the cost of living and the city needs to do its part to restore affordability,” says his campaign website.

He plans to reduce fees for community groups and seniors, keep tax increases below the rate of inflation, and audit city departments to ensure savings.

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He also promises to create a permanent crime prevention committee, support Neighbourhood Watch programs, work to prevent auto thefts, and put pressure on the federal government to stop repeat offenders from getting bail.

Crombie says Mississauga is in a housing crisis because city councillors “have lacked the political courage to lead us in doing what is right.”

He is campaigning on removing red tape, expediting approvals, increasing density around transit nodes and major arterials, and allowing for “missing middle” development.

Crombie also says the city is experiencing a crime spree, with burglaries, car thefts and gun violence on the rise. To address this, he will “enhance community engagement, recognizing that vigilant neighbours are our best deterrent.”

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Xiao Hua (Edward) Gong, who ran for mayor in Toronto last year with his ubiquitous campaign signs promising “to rescue Toronto,” is also a candidate.

The rest of the field are: Zulfiqar Ali, Diya Atassi, Jamie Dookie, Frank Fang, Winston Harding, Sara Iqbal, Syed Jaffery, Mohsin Khan, Mitchell MacEachern, Sinisa Mandrapa, Mike Matulewicz, David Shaw, George Tavares and Nathalie Xian Yi Yan.

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