Mississauga could be over 1 million people by 2040, mayor says

Mississauga officials predict the city’s population will hit the one-million mark by the middle of the century, but Mayor Bonnie Crombie says fast-paced development could get the municipality there as much as a decade sooner. 

“I think our numbers are going to grow faster…we’ll get to one million before 2050. Maybe by 2040,” Crombie said during an interview yesterday afternoon with insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura. “I’d love to be the mayor of a city of a million people.” 

Crombie said it’s not inconceivable Mississauga could hit the prestigious one-million mark 10 or more years ahead of population forecasts given the numerous planned developments across the city.  

The new Lakeview Village project in southeast Mississauga will add some 15,000 residents to the mix while a short distance away on Lakeshore Rd., the planned Brightwater community will see “at least 5,000” people move into the city, she said.  

“And then we have 25 towers (being built) in the next five years in the downtown core and then another 35 towers (in the next 30 years),” continued Crombie, who also pointed to new developments in the Hurontario St./Eglinton Ave. area, along the Ninth Line lands in the city’s northwest and along the Hurontario St. corridor as a result of the planned light rail transit (LRT) project to be running in the next couple of years. 

The latest Census numbers, from 2016, put Mississauga’s population at 748,000.  

Crombie said City of Mississauga forecasters tell her the current population is about 775,000, but she thinks that number is considerably higher. 

“They tell us our population isn’t 800,000 today, (but) I feel that it is because I think there are a lot of people who are not accounted for, whether they’re in secondary units or they’re newcomers or didn’t respond to the Census,” she said. 

A City staff report earlier this year anticipates Mississauga will reach 995,000 residents by 2051, which would represent 33 per cent growth from 2016 population numbers. 

However, the same report also shows the number of jobs in Mississauga is expected to grow at a slower pace in the same period.