New mayor of Canada’s seventh-largest city officially takes the reins in Mississauga

Mississauga’s new mayor officially takes the reins tonight at the Living Arts Centre, where she’ll be sworn in as head of council in Canada’s seventh-largest city.

Mayor-elect Carolyn Parrish and the new Ward 5 councillor, Natalie Hart, will take the oaths of office at the inaugural council meeting exactly two weeks after emerging as the successful candidates in Mississauga’s mayoral byelection.

Monday night’s meeting will be held inside Hammerson Hall and it gets underway at 7 p.m.

The brief agenda includes the swearing-in of both Parrish and Hart, followed by appointments of council members to several committees and then the city’s new mayor will deliver an inaugural council address.

Parrish vacated the Ward 5 council seat in March to run for mayor.

The longtime politician, who’s served on Mississauga city council for 13 years in addition to the same amount of time as an MP in Ottawa, fended off three sitting councillors in the race to succeed former mayor Bonnie Crombie, who left in January to lead the Ontario Liberal Party.

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On Wednesday morning, Parrish will officially call to order her first regular council meeting as the seventh mayor in Mississauga’s history (fifth since Mississauga officially became a city in 1974).

Parrish (43,494 votes) won the June 10 mayoral byelection by what turned out to be a comfortable margin over Mississauga councillors Alvin Tedjo (35,005), Dipika Damerla (27,119) and Stephen Dasko (22,408).

She topped a largest-ever field of 20 candidates for the city’s top seat.

Hart, meanwhile, earned 3,707 votes to come out on top among the 15 candidates vying for the ward seat.

According to the city clerk, 140,243 ballots were cast in the byelection, which translates to a 25.7 per cent voter turnout. Turnout for the 2022 municipal election was 21.8 per cent.

Speaking to supporters and reporters on election night following her victory, Parrish said among her immediate priorities as mayor are joining forces with Brampton and Caledon mayors to push senior levels of government for more social services dollars and working with developers and others to get much-needed affordable housing built faster in Mississauga.

Parrish is Mississauga’s seventh mayor, following Robert Speck (1968-72), Chic Murray (1972-73), Martin Dobkin (1973-76), Ron Searle (1976-78), Hazel McCallion (1978-2014) and Bonnie Crombie (2014-24).

She’ll serve as mayor for the remainder of the current term of council, which continues until fall 2026.