Polling indicates a three-way race for Mississauga mayor so far

Though the race to replace Bonnie Crombie as Mississauga mayor has a field of 13 candidates, three have pulled ahead into the leader.

Crombie fired the race’s starting gun when she was elected to lead the Ontario Liberal Party. She won her race in December and left the mayor’s seat in January.

Though Crombie leads the Ontario Liberals, she does not have a seat in Queen’s Park. Rumours she would run in the upcoming Milton were quashed earlier today when the party tapped longtime staffer Galen Naidoo Harris to run instead.

While these contests were ongoing the Mississauga mayor’s race was also heating up. It now features 13 candidates including;

• 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 (son of longtime Mayor Hazel McCallion)
• David Shaw
• George Tavares
• Peter Tolias
• Nathalie Xian Yi Yan

Parrish was the most recent candidate to join, declaring her candidacy just five days ago. Of note, she’s the only Councillor in the runnning who has fully resigned her seat. This has prompted the need for another by-election to fill her spot.

However, the young campaign is currently polling the strongest according to poll aggregator Polling Canada

Reporting a poll from Liaison Strategies, Polling Canada ranked the candidates by voting intention with three coming in tightly in the 20 per cent range;

Mississauga – Mayoral Vote Intention:

Parrish: 29%
Damerla: 24%
Tedjo: 21%
McCallion: 10%
Dasko: 8%
Tavares: 6%
Shaw: 3%

Liaison Strategies / March 22, 2024 / n=902 / MOE 3.3% / IVR pic.twitter.com/Up9ntTYp0h

— Polling Canada (@CanadianPolling) March 25, 2024

The Liason Poll also ranked voters’ top issues heading into the election;

Mississauga – Most Important Issue:

Crime: 30%
Affordable Housing: 25%
Traffic: 16%
Transit: 9%
Inflation: 9%
Homelessness: 3%

Liaison Strategies / March 22, 2024 / n=902 / MOE 3.3% / IVR

— Polling Canada (@CanadianPolling) March 25, 2024

However, the race has a long time to evolve. New candidates can join to run for mayor until April 26 as long as they’re a Canadian citizen, 18 or older, and lives or owns property in the city.

Even after that, the race isn’t run until votes are tallied on June 10.