New mayor and new city councillor needed in Mississauga

Mississauga is not only looking for a new mayor, but for a city councillor as well.

With the resignation last Friday of mayoral byelection candidate Carolyn Parrish from the Ward 5 councillor’s seat, that position now also needs to be filled.

Mississauga city council will likely decide Wednesday morning which of two avenues will be taken to replace Parrish — appoint a successor to complete the current term (ends in 2026) or hold a Ward 5 byelection in tandem with the mayoral byelection.

Though Parrish is one of four members of council — and 13 candidates overall — seeking to succeed Bonnie Crombie as mayor, she’s the only one to resign her position in order to do so.

Under the Municipal Elections Act, city council must today officially declare the Ward 5 seat vacant, as it did last month with the mayor’s seat.

It then has 60 days to direct senior city staff to put the process in place for either a ward byelection or an appointment by council of the next Ward 5 representative.

In a report to council today, city clerk Diana Rusnov noted there will be no additional financial impact with either route.

As of Wednesday morning, 13 people had officially registered to run for mayor of Mississauga.

Candidates to enter the race so far are:

• Ward 1 Coun. Stephen Dasko
• Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo
• Ward 5 Coun. Carolyn Parrish
• Ward 7 Coun. Dipika Damerla
• Amir Ali
• Jamie Dookie
• Frank Fang
• Syed Jaffery
• Peter McCallion
• David Shaw
• George Tavares
• Peter Tolias
• Nathalie Xian Yi Yan

The winner will become the seventh mayor of Mississauga, following Robert Speck (1968-72), Chic Murray (1972-73), Martin Dobkin (1973-76), Ron Searle (1976-78), Hazel McCallion (1978-2014) and Crombie (2014-24).

Nominations for the mayor’s race will close on April 26, at 2 p.m. A six-week mayoral byelection campaign will then follow until election night on the first Monday in June.

Speaking in early December shortly after learning she’d won a race of her own to become the new leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, Crombie described the impending Mississauga mayoral contest as one that would likely attract a large number of candidates.

She added at the time she didn’t plan to endorse any particular candidate when the byelection to replace her came along. Mississauga voters will go to the polls on June 10 — if not sooner at advance polling stations — to choose the next mayor.

In order to qualify as a candidate to succeed Crombie, according to the city, mayoral byelection hopefuls must be:

• a Canadian citizen
• at least 18 years old
• a resident of Mississauga or owner or tenant of property in Mississauga or the spouse of an owner or tenant of property in the city

In order to run, candidates also must not be prohibited from doing so under the Municipal Elections Act or other law. Each candidate must also pay a $200 nomination fee to the city.

Crombie left her post as Mississauga mayor on Jan. 12 to grab the reins of the Ontario Liberals. She had earlier taken a leave from the city back in October and councillors since then have been taking turns serving as acting mayor.