Government relations archive

The City of Mississauga works with other levels of government to ensure the City has the opportunity to benefit from available programs and funding to help us operate efficiently.

The following information is archived. It remains online for reference only.

Advocacy in past federal elections

A message from the Mayor

Dear Residents,

Mississauga Matters!

That is the message we must deliver to all candidates and political parties in the lead up to the federal election. The priorities of our residents are the priorities of our City and must be the priorities of the next federal government.

Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and growing city, home to almost 800,000 people and over 94,000 businesses. We are working to build a complete city, with communities connected by transit – a place where people can afford to live, work and raise a family. Mississauga is home to world-class community centres, hundred of kilometres of trails connecting over 250 parks across our city. We have a quality of life that is second to none.

As a City, we strive to run an efficient and effective government. The reality is that this is getting increasingly more difficult to do. Of each tax dollar collected, only nine cents goes to Mississauga. We are asked to do a lot with a little. The math simply does not add up. To continue to grow and prosper, Mississauga needs a committed federal partner to help us build healthy, sustainable communities.

We continue to face increased challenges to build and keep our infrastructure – roads, bridges, sidewalks, parks, trails, buses, and everything that keeps our city running – in a state of good repair. Everyday wear and tear as well as the impacts of climate change such as severe storms and flooding are taking a toll. Each year, we need more and more funding to keep our infrastructure in good working order. We need a committed federal partner who will invest in maintaining and building safe, accessible and sustainable infrastructure to keep Mississauga moving forward. City-building is nation building.

Housing affordability continues to be a major issue in Mississauga. Approximately one-third of people living in Mississauga are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. Too many people are living beyond their means. Middle-income households are being priced out of the city. As a City, we have taken action to help increase the availability of housing for the middle-class through our “Making Room for the Middle” plan, but we need a federal partner to invest in building more housing that is affordable for middle-income earners such as nurses, social workers, teachers and those in manufacturing and construction to name but a few.

We also need the federal government to continue to make investments to support the businesses hardest hit throughout repeated shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the peak of the pandemic, 66,000 jobs were lost in Mississauga and while the federal and provincial governments provided support to keep businesses and workers afloat, ongoing investments and programs will be needed to ensure we recovery quickly and build back better.

Lastly, Mississauga needs a federal partner to make significant investments in our local and regional transit systems – such as all-day two-way service on Mississauga’s GO transit lines, restoring the downtown LRT loop, and rapid transit along the Dundas corridor – to allow us to break gridlock and congestion and get people and businesses moving.

Before Election Day, please take the time to get to know each candidate in your riding and make sure they understand that Mississauga Matters!

After all, this is our city and we need to ensure that Mississauga remains one of the best cities in the world to live, work, and raise a family for generations to come. Get engaged and informed, and most importantly, please vote!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Crombie signature

Bonnie Crombie
Mayor

Our priorities

Public transit

Residents tell us that transit and transportation, and by extension congestion, is a top priority for our city.

As Mississauga continues to grow and urbanize, we need to not only encourage but make it as easy as possible for our residents to move around without a car.

Connected, seamless, rapid public transit

The City of Mississauga has a strategic vision that is only achievable if we build public transit systems that are reliable, efficient and sustainable and can quickly move people across our city, region and beyond.

Projects that need federal funding

In order to get more residents using transit, we need a committed federal partner to help fund the following projects:

1. All-day, two-way GO Service through Mississauga

All-day, two-way service on Mississauga’s GO Transit Lines, particularly the Milton line, is essential for our city’s future growth and economic competitiveness. Despite being the second busiest corridor in the GO Transit network, serving over 20,000 passengers per day and supporting over 70,000 jobs, the Province has yet to commit funding all-day two-way GO service on the Milton line.

All-day service on both the Milton and Kitchener GO Transit lines is currently prevented by the presence of heavy freight rail traffic that travels through both lines.

The provincial and federal governments must work together to properly fund the GO Expansion Program on the Milton Corridor and put all-day, two-way service in place as soon as possible. Investing in all-day, two-way service on the Milton line will provide Mississauga residents with another key transit connection and it will give the thousands of people who commute to Mississauga everyday the opportunity to take public transit. Expanded service will create more housing starts, greater economic opportunities and help the City reach its climate change goals.

2. Restoring the downtown LRT loop

While construction of the Hurontario Light Rail Transit (HuLRT) is now underway, major scope changes announced by the Ontario government in 2019 removed the downtown loop – a key component of the line.  Currently thousands of jobs, businesses and housing units are located along the Hurontario corridor and Canada’s largest development by Oxford Properties will be built in Mississauga’s downtown Square One District.

Restoring the downtown loop should be considered a funding priority in order to help the City realize the full potential of downtown Mississauga, ease congestion and give residents an alternative to using their cars. The federal government must work with the province and the City to dedicate funding to add the loop back into the project before construction is completed.

3. The downtown Mississauga Terminal and Transitway connection

In December 2017, the final station on the Mississauga Transitway opened. In order to complete the project, a new transit terminal is needed in downtown Mississauga that will create a central mobility hub by connecting MiWay and GO Transit buses, as well as the Hurontario LRT. The downtown section of the transitway is the busiest and at present, buses are operating in mixed traffic. Building this terminal and connection will provide relief for both buses and cars in the downtown core.

4. Dundas bus rapid transit

The Dundas BRT is part of a bold, forward-looking transportation plan aimed at creating stronger connections and providing fast, frequent and reliable transit to those in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Region. It is planned to extend for 48 km along Dundas Street from Highway 6 in Hamilton to the Kipling Transit Hub in Toronto, including approximately 17 km in the City of Mississauga.

The City’s Dundas Connects project produced a Master Plan for the Dundas Corridor, which makes recommendations on land-use intensification and rapid transit for Dundas Street. A Transit Project Assessment Process for the BRT is underway. Federal and provincial funding for this work, such as through ICIP (for which the City has applied) would ensure that rapid transit would be available to support the growth and redevelopment along Dundas.

Take action!

These issues matter! Get engaged, informed and talk to your local candidates. Read the Mississauga transit brochure to learn more.

Related documents

Sustainable infrastructure

The quality of life for Mississauga residents relies on essential infrastructure – roads, bridges, transit, parks, trails and community centres – being in good condition. It’s what makes our economy run, connects our communities, creates jobs, and makes Mississauga a destination for business and talent

Building a strong city for today and tomorrow

The City of Mississauga currently owns approximately $13.6 billion worth of infrastructure. However, everyday wear and tear is taking its toll as are the impacts of climate change such as severe storms and flooding. We need more and more funding each year to keep our infrastructure in working order. This year alone, there is a $291 million gap between what the City can afford to build and maintain, and what we need to build and maintain while keeping property taxes competitive and at the rate of inflation.

This gap exists because while municipalities own 60% of the country’s infrastructure, we only receive approximately nine cents from every tax dollar collected in Canada. This simply isn’t enough to fund city services and maintain infrastructure like roads, bridges and waterways in Canada’s sixth largest city. It’s also not enough to meet the significant threat to our City posed by climate change.

In order to continue to build Mississauga into a world-class city and achieve the climate change objectives outlined in our 10-year Climate Change Action Plan, we need the federal government to commit to doing more to help Mississauga close the gap. Direct, long-term and predictable infrastructure funding from the federal government to municipalities allows us to focus on local priorities, build infrastructure quickly and achieve our climate change objectives.

Take action!

These issues matter! Get engaged, informed and talk to your local candidates. Read the Mississauga sustainable infrastructure brochure to learn more about what the  City is responsible for.

Housing affordability

Housing affordability is a major issue in Mississauga and the wider GTA. Too often, people are forced to move far away from their jobs in our city, or live beyond their means to afford their home. To ensure we have enough appropriate housing stock, Mississauga requires a committed federal funding partner to make housing affordability a reality in our city.

Housing is considered “affordable” when a household pays less than 30 per cent of their total annual income on housing. In Mississauga, approximately one-third of households are spending more than this on housing. With the average price of a home in Mississauga now over $1 million – housing affordability is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Making room for the middle

The City of Mississauga has an approved plan to address housing affordability. The goal of “Making Room for the Middle” is to address housing affordability for middle income households ($58,000 – $108,000 annual household income) by protecting the existing affordable housing supply and encouraging new affordable and ownership housing.

Six of the 40 recommendations in our housing strategy require federal support or legislative/policy changes to give the City the ability to get developers to build housing that is more affordable, more often. The recommendations include:

  1. Create enduring and sustainable funding programs that realize developer timeframes and financial needs e.g., low-cost loans, grants
  2. Expand affordable home ownership assistance to individuals e.g. shared-equity mortgage programs
  3. Consider taxation policies that incent affordable housing e.g. GST rebates, tax incentives for new or rehabilitated purpose-built rental housing
  4. Explore tax credits and exemptions for affordable housing, for example:
  • income tax credits for new second units
  • land transfer tax exemptions
  • low-income housing tax credits
  1. Provide standardized local housing data and consistent methodologies to measure housing affordability
  2. Expand programs for housing developers to access financial backing/insurance to build more affordable housing e.g. rental construction financing
Take action!

These issues matter! Get engaged, informed and talk to your local candidates. Read the Mississauga affordable housing brochure to learn why housing affordability matters in Mississauga.

Related documents

Making Room for the Middle – A Housing Strategy for Mississauga

Business and community support

COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of our society – the ways we connect, do business, travel and enjoy time with family and friends. The pandemic also hit cities hard and Mississauga was no exception.

A strong recovery requires a strong community

The City of Mississauga has limited financial powers to provide support to our businesses and communities who were hardest hit by repeated shutdowns.

  • Small business is the foundation of Mississauga’s economy. We’re home to more than 94,000 businesses, with 97% of them being small businesses. During the pandemic, Mississauga’s main street businesses experienced some of the most severe lockdowns in the country.
  • Local arts & culture events and venues are the soul of our City and they help drive tourism from Ontario and beyond. As we move into recovery, there are still many unknowns for those working in these sectors which have such an important economic impact for Mississauga’s economy.
  • Mississauga is home to Canada’s largest airport which is traditionally an economic catalyst delivering jobs and investment to our City. The recovery of this sector – which has seen passenger levels plummet – is critical to prevent further job losses and to encourage economic growth and tourism.

Ongoing investments and programs are needed to ensure we recover quickly from the pandemic. This includes properly funding a robust paid sick leave program which is a critical public health measure for our country.

The federal government must commit to an inclusive economic recovery for our local business, arts & culture, tourism and aerospace sectors, including full participation in economic prosperity for women, racialized and underrepresented communities. When we work together, we will ensure no one is left behind.

Take action!

These issues matter! Get engaged, informed and talk to your local candidates. Read the Mississauga businesses and community brochure to learn why a strong recovery requires a strong community.

Federal Election Information Session

On Monday, September 13, Mayor Bonnie Crombie and City Manager and CAO Paul Mitcham held a virtual information session in the lead-up to the federal election. The session focused on the City’s top election priorities which include transit, sustainable infrastructure, housing affordability and business and community support.

Watch the recording

Read questions and answers from the session

Local candidates

The following federal candidates ran in Mississauga ridings:

Dear Residents,

Mississauga Matters!

This is the message we must deliver to all candidates and political parties in the lead up to the October 21, 2019 federal election. The priorities of our residents are the priorities of our City and must be the priorities of the next federal government.

Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and growing city, home to almost 800,000 people and over 94,000 businesses. We are working to build a complete city, made up of communities connected by local and rapid transit – a place where people can afford to live, work and raise a family. Mississauga is home to world-class community centres, hundreds of kilometres of trails connecting over 250 parks across our city. We have a quality of life that is second to none.

As a City, we strive to run an efficient and effective government. The reality is that this is getting increasingly more difficult to do. Of each tax dollar collected, only 9 cents goes to Mississauga, whereas 44 cents goes to the Ontario Government and 47 cents goes to the Federal Government. We are asked to do a lot with a little. On top of this, the only source of revenue we have is the property tax. To continue to grow and prosper, Mississauga needs a committed federal partner to help us build healthy, sustainable communities. We simply cannot do this alone.

We continue to face increased challenges to build and keep our infrastructure in a state of good repair – the roads, bridges, community centres, parks, trails, public transit, and so much more – everything that keeps our city running and makes Mississauga a great place to live. Good quality infrastructure is what makes Mississauga a place that people choose to be and where the world comes to work. We need a committed federal partner who will invest in helping us maintain and build the infrastructure we need to move Mississauga forward.

Mississauga, much like many other cities across the GTA, is facing a housing affordability crisis. Approximately one-third of people in Mississauga are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. This is dangerous and means too many people are living beyond their means.  As a City, we have taken action to help increase the availability of housing for the middle-class through our Making Room for the Middle plan, but we need a federal  partner to invest in building more affordable housing for middle-income earners so that people can live and work in Mississauga.

We also need the federal government to continue to make investments in our local infrastructure to help us build community centres, roads, bridges, parks, trails, bike lanes and everything else that makes Mississauga a great place to live. This includes investing in building healthy cities with green infrastructure such as solar panels and electric/hydrogen buses.

Lastly, we need a federal partner to make significant investments in our local and regional transit systems – like all-day two-way GO Transit and rapid transit along Dundas Street and Lakeshore – to allow us to break gridlock and congestion and get people and businesses moving.

Your priorities are our priorities too. They must also be the priorities of the next federal government.

After all, this is our city and we need to make ensure that Mississauga remains one of the best cities in the world to live, work and raise a family for generations to come.

On October 21, take the time to vote for a candidate that understands that Mississauga Matters.

Get engaged and informed, and most importantly, please vote.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Crombie
Mayor

Our priorities

Public transit

We’ve heard from residents that transit and transportation, and by extension congestion, remains a top priority for our city.

As our city continues to grow and urbanize, we need to not only encourage but make it as easy as possible for our residents to navigate across our city and beyond without the use of a car.

The City of Mississauga has a strategic vision that is only achievable if we build public transit systems that are reliable, efficient and sustainable and can quickly move people across our city, region and beyond.

In order to get more residents using  transit, we need a committed federal partner to help fund the following projects:

All-day, two-way GO service through Mississauga

All-day, two-way service on all three Mississauga GO Transit Lines, particularly the Milton line, is essential for our city’s future growth and economic competitiveness. Despite being the second busiest corridor in the GO Transit network, serving over 20,000 passengers per day and supporting over 77,000 jobs, the Province has yet to commit to funding all-day two-way GO service on the Milton line.

All-day service on both the Milton and Kitchener GO Transit lines is currently prevented by the presence of heavy freight rail traffic that travels through both lines.

The Missing Link can help achieve expanded all-day, two-way service on the Milton and Kitchener GO lines by relocating heavy freight rail elsewhere.

Congestion on the Lakeshore Corridor

With two major developments set to break ground along Lakeshore Road in the next five years that will welcome 30,000 new residents to the area, it is imperative that the corridor served by high quality, rapid transit from east to west.

Congestion, especially through Port Credit, is growing. Council has endorsed the Lakeshore Connecting Communities Transportation Master Plan, which will study options for higher-order transit along Lakeshore Road. This endorsement means that Council can now advocate to higher levels of government to help fund the project.

The downtown Mississauga terminal and transitway connection

In December 2017, the final station on the Mississauga Transitway opened. To complete the project, a new transit terminal is needed in downtown Mississauga that will create a central mobility hub by connecting MiWay and GO Transit buses, as well as the Hurontario LRT. The downtown section of the transitway is the busiest and at present, buses are operating in mixed traffic. Building this terminal and connection will provide relief for both buses and cars in the downtown core.

Read the Mississauga transit brochure to learn why transit matters in Mississauga.

Related documents

Infrastructure

Building strong, sustainable communities

The quality of life of Mississauga residents relies on our infrastructure – roads, bridges, transit, parks, trails and community centres – being in good condition. It’s what makes our economy run, connects our communities, creates jobs, and makes Mississauga a destination for business and talent.

The City of Mississauga currently owns approximately $9.9 billion worth of infrastructure. However, everyday wear and tear is taking its toll, and we need more and more funding to keep it in working order. This year alone, there is a $258 million gap between what the City can afford to build and maintain, and what we need to build and maintain while keeping property taxes competitive and at the rate of inflation.

This gap exists because while municipalities own 60% of the country’s infrastructure, we only receive nine cents from every tax dollar collected in Canada. This simply isn’t enough to fund city services and maintain infrastructure like roads, bridges and waterways in Canada’s sixth-largest city.

In order to build Mississauga into a world-class city, we need the federal government to commit to doing more to help Mississauga close the gap by providing long-term, predictable and sustainable infrastructure funding. Direct funding from the federal government to municipalities allows us to focus on local priorities and build infrastructure quickly.

Read the Mississauga infrastructure brochure to learn what the City is responsible for.

Affordable housing

There is a housing affordability crisis in Mississauga, and the wider GTA. Too often, people are forced to move far away from their jobs in our city, or live beyond their means to afford their home. To ensure we have enough appropriate housing stock, Mississauga requires a committed federal funding partner to make housing affordability a reality in our city.

Housing is considered “affordable” when a household pays less than 30 per cent of their total income on housing. In Mississauga, approximately one-third of households are spending more than this on housing – this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

That’s why in 2017, the City of Mississauga took the lead by developing a made-in-Mississauga plan to address housing affordability. The goal of “Making Room for the Middle” is to make 35 per cent of all new housing, either rental or affordable ownership ($270,000 – $420,000 ownership/$1,300 per month rental) for middle-income earners ($55,000 – $104,000 household income).

Six of the 40 recommendations made in our strategy require federal support or legislative/policy changes to give the City the ability to incentivize the building of affordable, middle-class housing.

These recommendations include:

  1. Create enduring and sustainable funding programs that realize developer timeframes and financial needs e.g. low-cost loans, grants
  2. Expand affordable homeownership assistance to individuals e.g. shared-equity mortgage programs
  3. Consider taxation policies that incent affordable housing e.g. GST rebates, tax incentives for new or rehabilitated purpose-built rental housing
  4. Explore tax credits and exemptions for affordable housing for example:
    • income tax credit (e.g. new second units)
    • land transfer tax exemptions
    • low-income housing tax credits
  5. Provide standardized local housing data and consistent methodologies to measure housing affordability

Read the Mississauga affordable housing brochure to learn why affordable middle-income housing matters in Mississauga.

Related documents

On October 21, 2019, the following federal candidates ran in Mississauga ridings:

Message from Mayor Crombie

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the City of Mississauga’s new information page about the 42nd Federal Election which will take place on Monday October 19th, 2015.

Mississauga is Canada’s sixth largest city. I believe the issues facing our community are the issues facing the majority of Canadians.

Throughout these pages you will find more information about the policy positions that your City Councillors are advocating on your behalf. These include greater investments for transportation and infrastructure; affordable housing; and new initiatives to generate economic development opportunities.

Council works together with organizations like the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) – which bring together municipal leader leaders to shape the agendas of both the federal and provincial governments.

I encourage you to check back regularly as we continue to update these pages about ongoing news, events, and information about who your local Mississauga candidates are; which riding you reside in; and information from Election Canada about voting.

We are truly fortunate to call Mississauga, Ontario, and Canada, home. Democracy is the foundation of our country’s guiding principles.

On Monday October 19th, I encourage you to speak up, be heard, and cast your ballot in the best interest of our community.

Warmest Regards,

Bonnie Crombie, MBA, ICD.D
Mayor, City of Mississauga

Mississauga 2015 federal election debate

In June, Mississauga Council unanimously passed a resolution to host a local debate during the 2015 federal election on issues facing cities with a specific focus on our community.

Consistent with the advocacy work undertaken by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, this Mississauga debate will focus on three leading priorities: transit and infrastructure; economic development; and affordable housing.

There will be a Community of Panel of three representatives who will principally ask questions to candidates. They include:

  • Mayor Crombie, lead panelist for transportation/infrastructure;
  • Sheldon Leiba, former president and CEO with the Mississauga Board of Trade and Vice President, Network & Membership Relations with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce – lead panelist for economic development;
  • Anita Stellinga, Vice President of Community Investment with United Way Peel, lead panelist for affordable housing;

The following candidates will represent their parties during the debate:

  • Stella Ambler, Conservative Party, Mississauga-Lakeshore;
  • Peter Fonseca, Liberal Party, Mississauga East-Cooksville;
  • Linh Nguyen, Green Party, Mississauga Centre;
  • Farheen Khan, NDP, Mississauga Centre;

The Mayor’s Office reached out to regional organizers for each of the main political parties; the regional organizers chose which candidates would participate in our debate.

The debate will be sixty minutes in length, moderated by Michael A. Charbon, a public affairs commentator and television host with Rogers Cable 10.

This debate is a special edition of #CrombieConnects – Mayor Crombie’s monthly TV show on Rogers TV Cable 10. It will be taped on September 29 and replaying throughout the remainder of the campaign leading up to Election Day. Broadcast times are as follows:

  • Saturday, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m.
  • Sunday, Oct. 4 at 10 p.m.
  • Monday, Oct. 5 at 4 a.m.
  • Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 12 a.m.
  • Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7 a.m.
  • Saturday, Oct. 10 at 7 p.m.
  • Monday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
  • Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 3 p.m.
  • Friday, Oct. 16 at 8 a.m.
  • Friday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m.
  • Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.
  • Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5 a.m.

Mississauga Ridings

Mississauga Centre Riding

  • Conservative: Julius Tiangson
  • NDP: Farheen Khan
  • Liberal: Omar Alghabra
  • Green: Linh Nguyen

Mississauga East-Cooksville Riding

  • Conservative: Wladyslaw Lizon
  • NDP: Ali Naqvi
  • Liberal: Peter Fonseca
  • Marxist-Leninist: Tim Sullivan

Mississauga-Erin Mills Riding

  • Conservative: Bob Dechert
  • NDP: Michelle Bilek
  • Liberal: Iqra Khalid
  • Green: Andrew Roblin

Mississauga-Lakeshore Riding

  • Conservative: Stella Ambler
  • NDP: Eric Guerbilsky
  • Liberal: Sven Spengemann
  • Marxist-Leninist: Dagmar Sullivan

Mississauga-Malton Riding

  • Conservative: Jagdish Grewal
  • Liberal: Navdeep Singh Bains
  • NDP: Dianne Douglas
  • Green: TBC

Mississauga-Streetsville Riding

  • Conservative: Brad Butt
  • Liberal: Gagan Sikand
  • NDP: Fayaz Karim
  • Green: Chris Hill

Visit Elections Canada website

Council Priority: the Missing Link

City Council has endorsed in principle, a study regarding a freight bypass rail line between the Canadian Pacific (CP) Line (Milton GO Rail corridor) west of Trafalgar Road in Milton and the Canadian National (CN) bypass Line at Bramalea. This concept is one option to permit for two-way, all-day GO service between Union Station and Kitchener via Malton on the Kitchener GO line as well as expansion of GO Train service to Cambridge.

The bypass would have three major benefits:

  • Provide an alternative to the challenge of widening the Milton and Kitchener GO Rail corridors
  • Remove heavy freight from the Milton and Kitchener GO Rail corridors;
  • Free up inner parts of the Milton and Kitchener GO Rail corridors for two-way service on the outer ends of these lines including new service to Cambridge and expanded service to Kitchener and Waterloo Region.

The study looked at the feasibility and business case of a new rail line to separate freight from passenger services and to connect the Milton GO line, west of Trafalgar Road in Milton to the CN Bramalea bypass line in Brampton, beside Highway 407. This new line would take heavy freight rail away from the Milton and Kitchener GO lines making these lines available for commuter rail.

The study by IBI Group cost $84,000 and was shared between the partnering municipalities: City of Mississauga, City of Toronto, Town of Milton and City of Cambridge (Kitchener, Waterloo, Region of Waterloo). The study recommends municipalities develop a process and work with Metrolinx, CN and CP to apply for funding from the Government of Canada.

Once approved, the study will be forwarded to Provincial and Federal Governments for consideration. It will also be shared with Metrolinx, CN and CP railways and the municipalities sponsoring the study.

The Missing Link is a proposed new rail corridor that would link the CN bypass line at Bramalea with the CP line through-route near the Milton-Mississauga border. The Missing Link proposes the separation freight from passenger services on the GO Transit Milton and Kitchener lines.

For more information about the Missing Link, please see the
Feasibility Study and Business Case of Constructing the Missing Link

Party websites

For more information about the political parties, your Mississauga candidates, and their policy platforms, please visit:

Stakeholder websites

For more information about the municipal stakeholder organizations that work to shape public policy and advocate for local priorities, please visit:

On May 2, 2011 the following federal candidates were elected in Mississauga ridings:

  • Bramalea-Gore-Malton: Bal Gosal
  • Mississauga-Brampton South: Eve Adams
  • Mississauga East-Cooksville: Wladyslaw Lizon
  • Mississauga-Erindale: Robert Dechert
  • Mississauga-South: Stella Ambler
  • Mississauga-Streetsville: Brad Butt

(Preliminary Results information as shown on the Elections Canada website)


Dear Citizens,

On behalf of the Mississauga City Council, thank you for your continued participation in the municipal process. On May 2, 2011, we will elect the next Government of Canada. More than ever before, municipalities across Canada are asking the federal government to help stimulate our economy, to keep our citizens safe, to maintain our municipal infrastructure and to keep our quality of life strong.

Our country has weathered the worldwide economic downturn better than most countries over the past three years, but not without difficulty. While economic recovery is occurring, it is still fragile. Your City Council understands this and is working hard to ensure the City of Mississauga emerges to a brighter future.

This federal election is critical to municipalities. We need real help on some very real and growing issues, and all candidates running for federal office must understand these local concerns and give support.  For every local tax dollar collected, cities get only 9 cents; the federal government gets 55 cents. Considering the scope of services that your city and region provide, it is clear that municipalities are required to fund an extensive list of programs with a very small portion of the overall tax dollar. We need federal government investment.

In 2011, our two priority issues are municipal infrastructure and public transit:

A. Municipal Infrastructure:

Canada’s national infrastructure deficit is estimated at $124 billion; Mississauga’s municipal infrastructure deficit is $1.5 billion. Based on historical costs, an annual injection of $77 million is required to close Mississauga’s infrastructure funding gap.

Though there has been significant construction and repair throughout our city in the past few years, the municipal infrastructure deficit continues to grow.

To help stem the tide against the economic downturn, all three orders of government joined forces to stimulate the economy and put people back to work. For Mississauga this was a positive event. The Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF) and the Recreation Infrastructure Canada Fund (RInC) provided $104 million to the City of Mississauga from the provincial and federal
governments (with an additional $65 million the City provided) which supported the construction of 138 projects.

While the City was grateful for these funds, this was one-time funding only.  To
truly maintain our infrastructure in a state of good repair, permanent sustainable funding is required. The City of Mississauga’s ten year capital forecast shows $432 million in capital projects and lifecycle replacement costs as unfunded. Clearly, one-time funding will not meet the needs of municipalities in reducing the overwhelming municipal infrastructure
deficit.

Across Canada there has been much discussion and analysis on the state of municipal infrastructure including advocacy by FCM and the inaugural National Infrastructure Summit held in January, 2011, hosted by the City of Regina. The request to the federal government was clear, that there must be a commitment to develop a new, long-term, infrastructure investment
strategy that will renew the Building Canada Plan which is due to expire in 2014.

The question that candidates should answer is:
Will your party commit to developing a new, long-term, sustainable infrastructure investment plan to replace the Building Canada Plan when it expires in 2014?

B. Public Transit:

Residents and business owners across the City of Mississauga continue to tell us that reliable, efficient public transit is one of their biggest needs.  This does not only mean a great bus system to move within the City, but also a higher-order transit systems (light rail transit, bus rapid transit, etc.) on inter-regional corridors, linking riders between municipalities on a multi-modal transportation system in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Systems such as these can truly transform communities, but come with a very significant capital investment.

Mississauga’s goal is to double the transit ridership from 11% to 22% over the next four decades. To meet this, work is underway on designing higher-order systems and mobility hubs, improving travel times, developing parking strategies that support transit, directing growth to support public transit, etc.  The City’s 2011 capital budget shows transit as 42% of the total capital budget ($98.8 m) but a number of important transit projects remain unfunded.

The City of Mississauga is not alone on their desire for a safe, reliable, efficient, inter-regional system. The provincial government, the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) and almost all urban areas within Canada are working toward the same thing.

We are still the only OECD country without a national transit investment framework.

The question that candidates should answer is:
Will your party commit to the creation of a comprehensive national transit policy framework and investment strategy including the indexation of the gas tax for municipalities?

We need the federal government to come to the table on issues of national municipal importance. I will be writing to all of the federal candidates to ask these questions and will post their responses on our City’s website for your information.  I encourage you to ask your local candidates about these important municipal issues as well – together we can use our collective voter power on these critical issues.

Sincerely,

HAZEL McCALLION, C.M., LL.D.

MAYOR


Federal Election 2011

Municipal Infrastructure and Public Transit

Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) – Election Kit

Questions for Candidates

Each local candidate will be asked to answer the following questions.

  1. Will your party commit to developing a new, long-term, sustainable infrastructure investment plan to replace the Building Canada Plan when it expires in 2014?
  2. Will your party commit to the creation of a comprehensive national transit policy framework and investment strategy including the indexation of the gas tax for municipalities?

Answers received from the Candidates:

Bramalea-Gore-Malton

Conservative Candidate – Bal Gosal

Mississauga-Brampton South

Liberal Candidate – Navdeep Bains

Conservative Candidate – Eve Adams

Mississauga East-Cooksville

Conservative Candidate – Wladyslaw Lizon

Green Candidate – Jaymini Bhikha

Mississauga-Erindale

Liberal Candidate – Omar Alghabra

Conservative Candidate – Robert Dechert

Green Candidate – John Fraser

Mississauga-South

Liberal Candidate – Paul Szabo

Conservative Candidate – Stella Ambler

Mississauga-Streetsville

Conservative Candidate – Brad Butt

Advocacy in past provincial elections

Message from the Mayor

My fellow Mississauga residents;

Mississauga Matters!

This is the message we must send to all candidates and political parties in the lead up to the June 2, 2022 provincial election.

What matters most to our city? Housing affordability, public transit, funding for cities and support for our local economy are Mississauga’s priorities. These must also be the priorities of our next provincial government.

Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and growing city, home to almost 800,000 people and over 94,000 businesses. We are building a complete city, made up of healthy, vibrant communities, connected by local and regional transit.  Mississauga is home to world-class community centres, hundreds of kilometres of trails connecting over 500 parks across our city and along our waterfront. We have a quality of life that is second to none and we want to keep it that way.

As a city, we strive to build communities where people can live and work and raise a family. However, Ontario is facing a housing crisis and it is playing out in Mississauga:

  • The average cost of a detached home is now $1.92M;
  • The average cost for a condo is $736,000; and
  • The average rental cost for a 2 bedroom condo is $2,561 per month (secondary market.)

Young people and families, seniors and newcomers, among many others, are being priced out of the market. They are forced to leave our wonderful city and travel great distances to qualify for a home in their price range, or significantly over-extend themselves financially. Our next provincial government must work with municipalities to bring housing supply to the market and ensure it is affordable for all income levels, so that everyone has the opportunity to live and work in Mississauga.

At the same time, we need a provincial partner committed to making significant investments in Mississauga’s highest priority transit projects – like building the Downtown Loop and implementing all day, 2-way GO train service on the Milton corridor – to stimulate our economy and move people through our city and beyond.

As a city, we strive to run an efficient and effective government. As we recover from the pandemic, the cost of doing business continues to increase, while our sources of revenue decline.  Of every tax dollar collected in Canada, only nine cents goes to Mississauga, yet we own two-thirds of all the infrastructure. We are asked to do a lot with a little. The math simply does not add up. To continue to deliver the vital services that residents rely on, Mississauga needs a committed provincial partner to help us recover from the pandemic and ensure that we have the resources necessary to continue to deliver high-quality services.

At the same time, we continue to face increased challenges to build and maintain the infrastructure – the roads, bridges, community centres, parks, trails, public transit and so much more – that makes our city run. Good quality infrastructure is what makes Mississauga a place that people choose to be and where the world comes to work. To continue to grow and prosper, Mississauga needs a committed provincial partner.

Finally, Mississauga also needs the provincial government to continue to make targeted investments to support the businesses hardest hit throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. At the peak of the pandemic, 66,000 jobs were lost in Mississauga. While the federal and provincial governments provided support to keep businesses and workers afloat, ongoing investments and programs will be needed to ensure local businesses recover and build back better.

Your priorities are our priorities. They must also be the priorities of the next provincial government.

Before Election Day on June 2, please take the time to get to know each candidate in your riding and make sure they understand that Mississauga Matters!

After all, this is our city and we need to ensure that Mississauga remains one of the best cities in the world to live, work and raise a family for generations to come. Get engaged and informed, and most importantly, please vote!

Sincerely,

Bonnie Crombie
Mayor


Our priorities

Housing affordability

The City of Mississauga is facing a housing affordability crisis, and we need the next provincial government’s support to address it.

According to recent reports, in Mississauga:

  • The average sale price of a single-detached home in 2021 was $1.8 million
  • The average cost of a condominium in 2021 was $657,000
  • The average rental price is $1,569 per month

While we’re doing what we can to make housing more affordable, these prices are out of reach for 80% of households in Mississauga. For example, Mississauga’s middle-income earners who earn $58,000-$108,000 per year are unable to compete in our current housing market even though we have taken the following actions:

Approved more housing

We are approving more housing units than required to meet the annual demand within a reasonable timeframe. We have:

    • Approved zoning for over 20,000 units that could be built today, but have not yet been
    • Pre-zoned another 40,000 units in the Downtown Core that could be built expeditiously
    • Met approval targets for building permit approval 95%+ of the time
    • Processed development applications on average within 18 months, quicker than other surrounding municipalities
    • Issued $2.1 billion worth of building permits in 2021
Removed barriers to new housing supply

We’ve made it easier to build housing by:

    • Removing height and density limits in the Downtown City Centre, permitting tens of thousands of units to be built as of right now
    • Introducing conditional permits to speed up the building of new housing
    • Introducing process improvements, including an online planning applications system and pre-application meetings to speed up approvals
    • Implementing a new “Minor Development Zoning By-law Application” which will save at least three months of development application time and will lower application fees
Developed an affordable housing strategy

In 2017, we created our Housing Strategy designed to focus on middle incomer earners. Since then, we have:

    • Established a Housing First Strategy to offer surplus lands to affordable housing providers first
    • Negotiated with developers to secure affordable units in new developments
    • Simplified the process for second units
    • Protected rental supply by implementing a Demolition Control By-law, Rental Replacement By-law and Condominium Conversion Control By-law
    • Established the Affordable Housing Reserve Fund
    • Recommended reduced parking requirements where transit is accessible, and for affordable housing

We are also continuing to investigate and implement new and innovative ways to make housing affordable by:

    • Implementing inclusionary zoning to achieve affordable units in new construction
    • Planning ways to increase housing options through gentle intensification in our existing neighbourhoods
    • Investigating incentives for affordable rental housing
    • Examining ways to develop housing cooperatives and community land trusts
    • Supporting the vacant home tax being proposed by the Region of Peel
    • Implementing affordable housing objectives through Community Benefit Charges (CBC)
The measures taken by the Ontario government

In 2022, the Government of Ontario received the Housing Affordability Task Force’s report and passed Bill 109 to address the housing affordability crisis.

While we appreciate the actions being taken to solve the housing crisis, we’re concerned that the province is not focused on the right things, as it is not:

Taking the right action on housing affordability
In April 2022, the Government of Ontario passed new legislation titled Bill 109, the More Homes for Everyone ActThis new legislation represents the first phase of the provincial government’s approach to solving the housing affordability crisis.
 
The province is planning to build more housing quickly. While we support the province’s active approach, we’re concerned that this will impact the quality of life without making it more affordable because:
  • Building more housing doesn’t automatically guarantee it will be more affordable. We want to understand what actions the government will take other than adding more housing supply to guarantee it will be affordable.
  • The new legislation gives developers a break on the amount of parkland they have to contribute when they build around transit stations. This means there will be fewer parks for more people. It could also mean that taxpayers will be responsible for covering the difference. This is unfair.
  • Limiting public engagement and applying a one-size-fits-all approach won’t help solve the problem. Public engagement is an important part of building great communities that consider differences.

The province also indicated that recommendations from the Housing Affordability Task Force report, released in February 2022, would act as the roadmap for housing policy and legislation for the next four years.

While we support some of the recommendations, we have concerns with those that limit public consultation on future developments and reduce our ability to plan our city in our own way. These are important issues that deserve proper consideration and further consultation.  

Supporting local decision-making

While we appreciate the actions being taken to solve the housing crisis, we’re concerned that the province is not focused on the right things. The province’s long-term plan to deliver on the Housing Affordability Task Force report would:

  • Limit all public consultation on future developments
  • Lower design standards and erase heritage
  • Remove neighbourhood character considerations
  • Reduce our ability to plan our city in our own way
  • Create a financial risk for the development of new infrastructure and parkland in our city and put the burden for growth on existing taxpayers
  • Fail to build any affordable housing, but create more supply for investors to buy and hold
  • Remove the ability for residents to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal

We need a provincial government that understands the important role cities play in planning complete communities. As we move forward, we need a provincial partner that supports engaged citizens and local decision-making.

What we need the next Ontario government to do

To make housing affordable, the province must start focusing in the right places and work with municipalities. For this to happen, we need to ensure that the commitments political parties make during the 2022 provincial election have a tangible and real effect on housing affordability.

We need to ensure the next provincial government considers the following solutions proposed:

Improve affordability
  • Provide funding for affordable housing developers
  • Permit inclusionary zoning or cash-in-lieu everywhere the market can support
  • Make revenue tools available to municipalities to raise funds for affordable housing
  • Offer direct funding
Increase supply
  • Discourage investor-owned residential real estate through capital gains tax and other mechanisms
  • Provide support for first-time homebuyers, such as assistance with closing costs
  • Provide direct funding by reinstating the Provincial Brownfield Remediation Fund or creating a Complete Communities Fund
  • Give municipalities the power to zone for residential rental buildings
  • Offer incentives to promote new purpose-built rental housing
Leverage provincially-owned lands
  • Require a minimum number of affordable units when selling surplus land to developers
  • Offer surplus land to non-profit housing providers for a below market price
  • Explore co-development of provincially-owned lands with affordable housing uses
Provide incentive opportunities
  • Provide direct incentives for rental housing producers
  • HST rebates and other incentive tax-related policies
  • Use additional housing-related tax revenue to fund housing incentive programs

Public transit

For the City of Mississauga to achieve its strategic vision, we must build a reliable, efficient and sustainable inter-regional transit system. This will help people move in and out of the city and enable us to address our economic losses and create jobs. This is especially important in the coming years.

While we’re continuing to make significant investments in public transit locally, we need additional investments from the provincial (and federal) government to achieve our long-term transit objectives. For this reason, it’s important that the next provincial government is committed to continuing to work with us to build a 21st century multi-modal, regionally-focused transit system.

What we need the next government to do
Build the downtown loop

In March 2019, the Ontario government announced scope changes to the Hurontario LRT (HuLRT) project by removing the downtown loop. The downtown loop is a critical part of the project that will help Downtown Mississauga to reach its full potential.

Thousands of jobs, businesses and housing units are located along the Hurontario corridor. In addition, Oxford Properties will be building a major mixed-use development in our Downtown Square One District. To connect all these downtown residents and businesses with the rest of Mississauga, we need the downtown loop. Therefore, it’s important that the next provincial government considers the downtown loop a funding priority.

Develop all-day, two-way GO service on the Milton Corridor

The Milton GO Rail Corridor is the second busiest corridor in the GO Transit network. It serves over 20,000 passengers and six stations every day. There are also 77,000 jobs along this corridor in Mississauga. With this in mind, increasing all-day, two-way service on this corridor will enable us to:

  • Respond to growing traffic congestion
  • Meet the demand for inter-regional transit service
  • Support economic development

Despite all these benefits and a commitment for up to 50 per cent of the funding from the federal government, the provincial government has yet to commit an all-day, two-way GO service on the Milton corridor. It’s important that the next provincial government continue discussions and develop a plan for implementing increased passenger service here.


Funding for cities

The quality of life for Mississauga residents depends on both high-quality municipal services and infrastructure. However, lingering operating pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing infrastructure gap have made it hard for municipalities to deliver quality services and build and maintain 21st century cities.

For the City of Mississauga to recover, we need the next provincial government to be a dedicated partner committed to providing ongoing funding to support both operational and infrastructure needs.

What we need the next government to do

The following two examples are ways that the next provincial government can support us.

Ongoing Safe Restart funding

Ontario has faced the longest and most widespread public health measures in all of North America. As a result, a strain has been put on our revenues. For example, lockdowns decreased transit ridership, which impacted our revenues from fares. They also decreased air travel, impacting revenue generated from the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILTs) paid by the Toronto Pearson International Airport. Other revenue sources impacted include program enrolment and membership fees.

In response to significant advocacy from municipalities throughout the pandemic, the federal and provincial governments developed the Safe Restart Program. The program provided funding to municipalities in Ontario to offset revenue losses (POA, transit, recreation, etc.,) and ensure municipalities could continue to provide critical services. Through this program, the City of Mississauga received $141.5 million in total to offset operating shortfalls.

Traditionally, the focus of the federal and provincial governments has been on capital investments. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it clear that we need ongoing investments in the operation and delivery of critical municipal services. The Safe Restart Program is a good example of how all three levels of governments can work together to make this happen. This is why it’s important that the next provincial government is committed to continuing the Safe Restart Program.

Infrastructure funding

The City of Mississauga receives only nine cents of every tax dollar collected by governments in Canada. However, we are responsible for paying 60 cents of every dollar spent on infrastructure. The math doesn’t add up.

While our revenue balances the need to maintain our infrastructure, fund new projects as required, and minimize debt, it doesn’t fully support all capital requirements. As a result, the condition of some of our assets is starting to decline. We must repair these assets promptly, as the longer they are allowed to deteriorate, the more the cost to repair them will be.

In the past, we were able to manage because of our financial strength and the polices and practices Council adopted over the years, such as the infrastructure levy. However, now with an average annual infrastructure gap of approximately $40-45 million, we are struggling with funding shortfalls. We can’t maintain or grow our infrastructure on the local tax bill alone. For us to keep building Mississauga into a world-class city, we need long-term, predictable and sustainable funding from the provincial government.

About the infrastructure levy

Every year, we maintain a two percent infrastructure levy. The levy helps to ensure there is enough funding available to maintain and replace our infrastructure. However, as the levy helps to cover only partial costs, we need additional funding from other levels of government to cover the full expense.


Targeted support for our local economy

The City of Mississauga has a strong local economy with a diverse business community across various sectors. We are home to over 94,000 businesses, have a GDP of $60 billion, and are a major contributor to the Greater Toronto Area economy.

It is imperative that we remain responsive to the business community’s needs as recovery takes hold. While we always have and will play an ongoing role in helping the local economy, we need the support of active and engaged provincial and federal partners.

What we need the next government to do

In the Mississauga Economic Development Strategy, we outline three global drivers of change shaping economic competitiveness and prosperity:

  • Digital technology transformation
  • Emergence of sustainability as a business imperative
  • Competition for talent

As our economy emerges from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s clear that these drivers are more relevant than ever. For this reason, it’s important that our next provincial government adopts an inclusive, whole-community approach that leaves no one behind and:

Invests in local business innovation and competitiveness
  • Provide long-term funding to small and medium sized businesses to encourage the adoption of sustainable, advanced technologies and digitalization
  • Extend the funding for the Digital Main Street program recipients (up to three years) to support service continuity and retain skilled business advisors
  • Expand existing provincial and federal programs to support SMEs in assessing and adopting advanced and sustainable technologies
Invests in talent development and access
  • Align the workforce development programs and services with the needs of employers
  • Expand and funding programs that foster collaboration between education and training institutions and industry stakeholders to develop flexible, demand-driven education and training programs for small and medium businesses
  • Develop dedicated funding sources that address the gaps experienced by businesses
  • Expand workforce development support focused on full and equitable participation within the labour market by building upon existing provincial and federal incentives for businesses to provide work opportunities for individuals facing employment challenges, including new graduates, long-term unemployed, newcomers, and persons with disabilities

Party promise tracker

Stay up to date with the provincial election campaign using the party promise tracker. You can learn whether a political party’s promises align with Mississauga’s top priorities.

Ontario Liberal Party’s promises
  • Build the Downtown Loop
  • Develop all-day, two-way GO on the Milton Corridor
  • Increase inclusionary zoning
  • Establish the Ontario Home Building Corporation which will develop surplus provincial lands, including up to 80,000 acres of land for new homes. Any homes sold by the Corporation will be available only to first-time home buyers, and any proceeds will go directly back into creating more affordable homes
  • Review municipal fiscal sustainability and the potential to upload responsibility of more critical infrastructure like bridges and roads to the province
  • Fund digitalization for businesses
  • Hire internationally-trained health professionals
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario’s promises
  • Enhance the non-resident speculation tax
  • Extend funding for the Digital Main Street program
  • Invest $10 million over 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 to create a new Digitalization Competence Centre (DCC), which will provide small business with the training and support to use new equipment and process, helping them understand and adopt digital technologies
  • Support employment equity
Ontario New Democratic Party’s promises
  • Build the downtown loop
  • Develop all-day, two-way GO on the Milton Corridor
  • End exclusionary zoning
  • Require Metrolinx to make its surplus lands available for social and affordable housing
  • Enhance the non-resident speculation tax
  • Extend support for the not-for-profit sector
  • Support employment equity
Green Party of Ontario’s promises
  • Expand all-day, two-way GO service to ensure trains could leave every 15 minutes during peak periods and every 30 minutes during off-peak hours, including weekends
  • Increase inclusionary zoning
  • Enhance the non-resident speculation tax
  • Restore the 50 percent provincial cost-share for transit operations to reduce user fare increases and create a dedicated annual $2 billion Climate Adaptation Fund for municipalities
  • Expand the Digital Main Street program to include non-profit organizations and provide fulfilment platforms that better enable small, local businesses to compete the large online companies

This list will be continually updated as parties release their platforms and respond to Mississauga’s priorities. 

The party promise tracker is solely an informational aid used for educational purposes. 


Electoral districts

Mississauga has six electoral districts in which candidates can run:

For more information about the political parties, your Mississauga candidates and their policy platforms, please visit Elections Ontario.


Follow the provincial election

Provincial election information session

Watch the recording of the provincial election information session held on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.

Party promise tracker

Message from the Mayor

My fellow Mississauga Residents;

Mississauga Matters!

This is the message we must deliver to all provincial candidates and political parties in the lead up to the June 7, 2018 provincial election. The priorities of our residents are the priorities of our City and must be the priorities of the next provincial government.

Mississauga is a dynamic, diverse and growing city, home to almost 800,000 people and over 88,000 businesses. We are building a complete city, made up of complete communities connected by local and rapid transit – a place where people can live and work and raise a family. Mississauga is home to world-class community centres, hundreds of kilometres of trails connecting over 250 parks across our city. We have a quality of life that is second to none.

At the same time, we continue to face increased challenges to build and maintain the infrastructure – the roads, bridges, community centres, parks, trails, public transit, and so much more – that makes our city run. Good quality infrastructure is what makes Mississauga a place that people choose to be and where the world comes to work.

To continue to grow and prosper, Mississauga needs a committed provincial partner. We cannot do this alone because we simply do not have the tools needed to build the infrastructure necessary to keep Mississauga moving forward.

We need the provincial government to partner with us to make investments to build more housing that is affordable to the middle-income so that people can live and work in Mississauga.

We need the provincial government to continue to make investments in our local infrastructure to help us build community centres, roads, bridges, parks, trails, bike lanes and everything else that makes Mississauga a great place to live.

And, we need a provincial partner to make significant investments in our local and regional transit systems – like GO Transit and the Hurontario LRT – to allow us to break gridlock and congestion and get people and businesses moving.

Your priorities are our priorities too. They must also be the priorities of the next provincial government.

After all, we are all in this together.

On June 7th, I ask you to please take the time to vote for a candidate that understands that Mississauga Matters. Get engaged and informed, and most importantly, please vote.

Sincerely,

Bonnie Crombie
Mayor


Our priorities

Public transit: connected, seamless, rapid public transit

We’ve heard from residents that transit and transportation, and by extension congestion, remains a top priority for our city.

The City of Mississauga has a strategic vision that is only achievable if we build public transit systems that are reliable, efficient and sustainable. The City has worked closely with the provincial government and its transit agency, Metrolinx to build new public transit in our City, including the recently opened Mississauga Transitway. Our city wants to significantly increase the number of people who take transit which means there must a variety of transit systems that work together to improve travel times and enhance rider experience.

In order to get more residents using MiWay, we need a committed provincial partner to help fund the following projects:

The completion of the Hurontario LRT

While the province of Ontario and the City of Mississauga have committed to fully-funding the LRT and planning and design are well underway, the project is not yet complete. It is important that all candidates and political parties understand the importance of this project to the growth of Mississauga and follow through with their commitment to fully funding the LRT should they form government.

All-day, two-way GO service through Mississauga

All Day, Two-Way service on all three Mississauga GO Transit Lines, particularly the Milton line, is essential for our city’s future growth and economic competitiveness. Despite being the second busiest corridor in the GO Transit network, serving over 20,000 passengers per day and supporting over 77,000 jobs, the province has yet to commit to funding all-day two-way GO service on the Milton line.

All-day service on both the Milton and Kitchener GO Transit lines is currently prevented by the presence of heavy freight rail traffic that travels through both lines. The Missing Link can help achieve expanded all-day, two-way service on the Milton and Kitchener GO lines by relocating heavy freight rail elsewhere.

The Downtown Mississauga Terminal and Transitway Connection

In December 2017, the final station on the Mississauga Transitway opened. In order to complete the project a new transit terminal is needed in downtown Mississauga that will create a central mobility hub by connecting MiWay and GO Transit buses, as well as the Hurontario LRT. The downtown section of the transitway is the busiest and at present, buses are operating in mixed traffic. Building this terminal and connection will provide relief for both buses and cars in the downtown core.

Read the Mississauga transit brochure to learn why transit matters in Mississauga.

Related documents

Infrastructure: Building strong, sustainable communities

The quality of life of Mississauga residents relies on essential infrastructure such as roads, bridges, transit, parks, trails and community centres being in a state of good repair. Infrastructure is what makes our economy run, connects our communities, creates jobs, and makes Mississauga a destination for business and talent

The City of Mississauga currently owns approximately $8.9 billion worth of infrastructure. This year alone, there is a $260 million gap between what the City can afford to build and maintain, and what we need to build and maintain while keeping property taxes affordable for residents.

This gap exists because while municipalities own 60% of the country’s infrastructure, we only receive 8 cents from every tax dollar collected. This simply isn’t enough to fund city services and maintain infrastructure like roads, bridges and waterways in Canada’s sixth largest city.

The reality is that every year, this gap in funding only continues to grow.

In order to build Mississauga into a world-class city, we need the provincial government to commit to doing more to help Mississauga close this gap by providing long-term, predictable and sustainable infrastructure funding.

Read the Mississauga infrastructure brochure to learn what the City is responsible for.


Affordable housing

There is a housing affordability crisis in Mississauga, and the wider GTA. To address this crisis and ensure we have enough appropriate housing stock, Mississauga requires a committed provincial funding partner to help make Mississauga a place where people can live, work and play.

Housing is considered “affordable” when a household pays less than 30% of their total income on housing. In Mississauga, more than 33% of households are spending more than 30% of their income on housing – this is an issue that needs to be addressed.

That’s why in 2017, the City of Mississauga took the lead by developing a made-in-Mississauga plan to address housing affordability. The goal of “Making Room for the Middle” is to make 35% of available housing Mississauga affordable ($270,000 – $400,000 ownership/$1,200 per month rental) for middle-income earners ($55,000 – $100,000 household income).

Last year, the Ontario Government announced 16 measures to “cool” the housing market and increase affordability in their Fair Housing Plan. Many of the province’s measures are in alignment with the City’s “Making Room for the Middle” plan.

Six of the 40 recommendations made in our strategy require provincial support or legislative changes to give the City the ability to incentivize the building of affordable, middle-class housing.

These recommendations include:

  1. Create enduring and sustainable funding programs that realize developer timeframes and financial needs
  2. Provide affordable home ownership assistance to individuals
  3. Expand municipal revenue tools
  4. Consider taxation policies that incent affordable housing that include but are not limited to:
    • the creation of second units
    • rehab of existing purpose built rental housing
    • new purpose built rental housing
    • GST rebates or exemptions
  5. Explore tax credits and exemptions for affordable housing including but not limited to:
    • income tax credit (e.g. second unit homeowners)
    • land transfer tax exemptions
    • create land value capture tools for municipalities
    • low-income housing tax credits
  6. Provide standardized local housing data and consistent methodologies to measure housing affordability

Read the Mississauga affordable housing brochure to learn why affordable middle-income housing matters in Mississauga.

Related documents

Mississauga Matters Provincial Election Debate

 

On June 7, 2018 the following provincial candidates were elected in Mississauga ridings:

Party websites

For more information about the political parties, your Mississauga candidates, and their policy platforms, please visit:

Stakeholders

Open Letter to Party Leaders

Read Mayor Crombie’s open letter to party leaders.

Responses

Response from the Liberal Party

Related documents

On June 12th, 2014 the following provincial candidates were elected in Mississauga ridings:

  • Bramalea-Gore-Malton: Jagmeet Singh
  • Mississauga-Brampton South: Amrit Mangat
  • Mississauga East-Cooksville:  Dipika Damerla
  • Mississauga-Erindale: Harinder Takhar
  • Mississauga-South: Charles Sousa
  • Mississauga-Streetsville:  Bob Delaney

Note: this notice is posted using election results found on the Elections Ontario website.


Message from the Mayor

Dear Citizens,

Your participation in the democratic process is important to the City of Mississauga. On June 12, 2014 residents will once again elect a provincial government. The City of Mississauga is committed to helping residents understand our local issues, so you can be informed as candidates ask for your vote on June 12th.

Mississauga is recognized as the sixth largest city in Canada and one of the fastest growing major cities. Our residents are talented, diverse, cultured, and highly skilled. To continue with our success, we must ensure that our interests and views are well represented by the provincial government. Mississauga City Council has identified the following issues for the upcoming provincial election:

  • Public Transit
  • Sustainable Infrastructure
  • Interest Arbitration – Labour Costs for Emergency Services

Please explore our provincial election website to find more about our priority issues. Included in this site are questions we addressed to provincial parties; links to the Region of Peel and other important associations; Council endorsed corporate report and other material of interest.

We invite your participation and I encourage you to ask your local candidates about these important municipal issues.

HAZEL McCALLION,  C.M., LL.D.
MAYOR


Public Transit

Residents have identified Transit as one of the City’s priority issues. Having a reliable transportation infrastructure is important and the City is working to build sustainable and cost effective transit to help citizens improve their quality of life.
For many years, the City has worked alongside its partners to build ridership on the bus system, maintain and green the City’s fleet and facilities, work with adjacent municipalities to provide better connections and develop higher-order public transit systems that will move people faster and help decrease car congestion.

One of the City’s central concerns is funding for the Hurontario/Main Light Rail Transit system, which is a high priority project of the Metrolinx Plan. The project’s capital cost is approximately $1.5 billion; funding will be needed from the provincial (and federal) governments to assist in the development of this important regional system. The City cannot fund transit initiatives alone.

The Metrolinx Investment Strategy has recommended property tax and transit fare increases as potential revenue tools to fund regional transportation, including Mississauga’s LRT project. These recommendations are of concern to the City as these revenue tools may limit the City’s ability to raise and allocate revenue to fund general municipal operating and capital budgets going forward.

The questions that provincial political parties should answer is:

  • Will your party explicitly commit to fund 100% of the cost of the Mississauga LRT?
  • What revenue tools does your party support to ensure priority public transit systems are built in Mississauga and across the GTHA?

Sustainable infrastructure

The quality of life for Mississauga residents depends on basic infrastructure systems such as roads, highways, bridges, water supply systems, sewers, telecommunications facilities and transit systems being in a state of good repair. The City of Mississauga needs more than $116 Million every year to fund repairs and maintenance, and to put funds away for replacements in the future.  In 2014, the City will only raise $32 Million through property taxes, leaving a funding shortfall of almost $91 Million. Though there has been significant construction and repair throughout our City, the municipal infrastructure deficit continues to grow.

To truly maintain Mississauga’s infrastructure in a state of good repair, permanent sustainable funding is required. One-time funding will not meet the needs of municipalities in reducing the overwhelming municipal infrastructure deficit.

The question that provincial political parties should answer is:

  • Will your party commit to developing a new, long-term, sustainable infrastructure investment plan for Ontario municipalities? What is that plan and how will it be funded?

Interest Arbitration – Labour costs for Emergency Services

Our police, fire and emergency medical services play an important role in Mississauga by protecting our communities, caring for our health and keeping our streets safe. Labour costs for emergency services continue to escalate and contribute as a significant proportion of the municipal operating budget which is a concern for the City of Mississauga and other municipalities of Ontario.

The cost of wages, benefits, pensions, and other areas of compensation for emergency service workers are negotiated through collective bargaining agreements. Yet, when a negotiated settlement cannot be reached, these emergency services, who do not have the right to strike, proceed to the interest arbitration process. This process provides for arbitration to issue an award which is final and binding on all parties, but these awards fail to adhere to the requirement to consider a municipality’s ability to pay. This has caused higher settlements than what would have been freely negotiated. As a result, this process continues to increase the costs of emergency services and removes the municipal employer’s efforts to control labour costs.

The City of Mississauga is calling on the new provincial government to change the rules of arbitration governing the municipal public service and to ensure that fair and equitable rules are in place that can benefit residents of all municipalities.

The question that provincial political parties should answer is:

  • Will your party agree to change the rules of arbitration and make arbitration settlements more affordable to communities?

Questions for Provincial Party Leaders

Each party leader will be asked to answer the following questions:

Public transit

Will your party explicitly commit to fund 100% of the cost of the Mississauga LRT? What revenue tools does your party support to ensure priority public transit systems are built in Mississauga and across the GTHA?

Sustainable infrastructure

Will your party commit to developing a new, long-term, sustainable infrastructure investment plan for Ontario municipalities? What is that plan and how will it be funded?

Interest arbitration

Will your party agree to change the rules of arbitration and make arbitration settlements more affordable to communities?

Related documents

On October 6th, 2011 the following provincial candidates were elected in Mississauga ridings:

  • Bramalea-Gore-Malton: Jagmeet Singh
  • Mississauga-Brampton South: Amrit Mangat
  • Mississauga East-Cooksville:  Dipika Damerla
  • Mississauga-Erindale: Harinder Takhar
  • Mississauga-South: Charles Sousa
  • Mississauga-Streetsville:  Bob Delaney

Message from the Mayor

Dear Citizens,

Your participation in the democratic process is important to the City of Mississauga. On October 6, 2011 residents will once again elect a provincial government. The City of Mississauga is committed to helping residents understand our local issues, so you can be informed as candidates ask for your vote on October 6th.

Mississauga is recognized as the sixth largest city in Canada and one of the fastest growing major cities. Our residents are talented, diverse, cultured, and highly skilled. To continue with our success, we must ensure that our interests and views are well represented by the provincial government. Mississauga City Council has identified the following issues for the upcoming provincial election:

•        Fund and Grow Public Transit
•        City Building – Infrastructure Funding
•        Interest Arbitration – Labour Costs for Emergency Services
•        The Future of the Ontario Power Generation lands
•        Post-Secondary Education Funding
•        Air Quality – Clarkson Air Shed and Loreland Site

Please explore our website to find more about our priority issues. Included in this site are questions we addressed to provincial parties; links to the Region of Peel and other important associations; Council endorsed corporate reports and resolutions and other material of interest.

We invite your participation and I encourage you to ask your local candidates about these important municipal issues.

HAZEL McCALLION,  C.M., LL.D.
MAYOR


Questions to Provincial Party Leaders

Fund and Grow Public Transit

What actions will your party take to help fund and grow transit?  Will your party commit to financial support of the Mississauga LRT?

City building – infrastructure funding

Will your party commit to developing a new, long-term, sustainable infrastructure investment plan for Ontario municipalities?

Interest arbitration – labour costs for emergency services

Will your party agree to change the rules of arbitration and make arbitration settlements more affordable to communities?

The Future Of The OPG Lands

Will your party honour the commitment by the province to develop a shared vision for the OPG site as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding and continue to work with the City of Mississauga to redevelop Lakeview as visualized by the parties to the MOU, the citizens of Mississauga, the landowners, and the rest of Ontario?

Post-Secondary Education Funding

Will your party continue to honour the existing post-secondary education funding commitment?

Air Quality

Clarkson Air Shed

Will your party agree to the implementation of an air-zone management program with a pilot project in the Oakville-Clarkson area, and take action to see that they are fulfilled in the next provincial government mandate?

Loreland Site

Will your party ensure a full Environmental Assessment is conducted on the Greenfield South Power plant proposal? Will you as a Provincial candidate oppose the construction of the Greenfield South power plant?

Answers received

Related documents

Other issues of interest: PILTS

Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) are a set amount of funding paid for by hospitals, universities and colleges located in the municipality to compensate for municipal services. The Assessment Act requires all real property in Ontario to be subject to assessment and taxation. However, land owned by the federal or provincial government, public education institutions, and public hospitals are considered as an “exemption”. To compensate for the loss in taxation revenue, section 323 of the Municipal Act, 2001, provides municipalities with the authority to levy an amount payable. Thus, a municipality can receive payment for services provided from the province for a full-time student enrolled in a university/college, a resident in a correctional facility, and a patient in a provincial rated bed.

The Province of Ontario established in 1987 that the PILT rate would be $75 per student and per hospital bed. In 2010, the Trillium Health Centre (Mississauga site), University of Toronto Mississauga and Credit Valley Hospital paid a total PILT amount of $834,900. Council has asked that the PILT rate be increased to $240 to reflect the new financial realities that the City faces. With an increase of the PILT rate from $75 to $240, the City would receive $2,671,680; an increase of $1.8 million in funding. This funding is significant for Mississauga and provides relief from the pressures of inflation and increases to other service expenditures.

The City of Mississauga has lobbied the provincial government for changes to the legislation. Most recently, Council passed Resolution 0069-2011 to request the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and the Minister of Finance to increase the PILT rate. View links below for more information on PILTs.

Citizens of the City of Mississauga should be aware of the issues that most impact our city and require assistance from our provincial representatives.

The Mayor and Council have endorsed four reports supporting matters of importance relating to the October 10, 2007 provincial election.

Background information

Questions for candidates

Each party and local candidate will be asked to answer the following questions in writing by August 31, 2007:

  1. Do you commit to the measures outlined by the City of Mississauga regarding the need for investments in transportation and specifically, what additional measures and investments will you make in transportation in the next four years?
  2. Will you make the commitments outlined by the City of Mississauga regarding current value assessment, airport payments in lieu of taxes and tax incremental financing?
  3. Will you make the commitments outlined by the City of Mississauga regarding the underfunding of municipal services, including the uploading the costs of health and social services to the Province from the municipal property tax over the next three years and the phasing out of the GTA Pooling Program completely over the next three years?

Answers received from Leaders and Candidates:

Party Leaders

Liberal Leader – Dalton McGuinty

PC Leader – John Tory

NDP Leader – Howard Hampton

Bramalea-Gore-Malton

Liberal Candidate – Kuldip Kular

Mississauga-Brampton South

Liberal Candidate – Amrit Mangat

Mississauga East-Cooksville

Liberal Candidate – Peter Fonseca

Mississauga-Erindale

Liberal Candidate – Harinder Takhar

Mississauga-South

Liberal Candidate – Charles Sousa

Conservative Candidate – Tim Peterson

Mississauga-Streetsville

Liberal Candidate – Bob Delaney

Conservative Candidate – Nina Tangri

Advocacy in regional governance

Update: October 25, 2019

A decision by the Government of Ontario on the topic of regional government was posted on October 25, 2019: Ontario Helping Make Municipalities Stronger.

Update: May 23, 2019

The independent financial analysis conducted by EY (Ernst & Young) was submitted to the province’s special advisors as part of their review on regional government.

The EY report was prepared in consultation with and verified by the four Chief Administrative Officers (CAO’s) of the Cities of Mississauga and Brampton, Town of Caledon and Region of Peel.

It is an independent financial analysis of service delivery models for amalgamation and dissolution (Mississauga becoming independent).

The EY report focused on what is feasible and reasonable and confirms there are no financial barriers to Mississauga becoming independent from the Region of Peel. In fact, the report highlights many financial benefits including an annual savings of as much as $84 million after transition costs.

A decision by the Government of Ontario on the topic of regional government is expected in late summer.

Background

In January 2019, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced that it had appointed two special advisors, Ken Seiling and Michael Fenn, to review regional government in Ontario.

Mississauga is currently a member of the Region of Peel, along with the City of Brampton and Town of Caledon.

On March 27, Mississauga City Council adopted a motion, approving in principle, that Mississauga become independent from the Region of Peel as its preferred option, subsequent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing’s regional government review.

As the third-largest municipality in Ontario and sixth-largest in Canada, Mississauga wants to control its own future, similar to other cities such as London, Windsor, Guelph, Thunder Bay and Dryden.

Top 10 Reasons Mississauga Should be Independent from the Region of Peel

Resident Town Hall

On April 8, Mississauga Mayor and City Council held a Resident Town Hall on the matter of independence from the Region of Peel.

The Town Hall provided residents with the opportunity to provide feedback to Mayor and Members of Council on this matter. A presentation overview was provided by Mississauga’s City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer, Janice Baker, followed by a question and answer session, facilitated by Mayor Crombie.

Show your support

Residents were asked to show their support towards independence by:

  1. Signing and mailing a postage paid postcard to Premier Ford. Postcards were delivered to households in early May.
  2. Completing the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing online public consultation at: www.ontario.ca/page/consultation-regional-government-review.
    The consultation period has now formally closed.
    View the information tip sheet
  3. Posting on social media using the following hashtag #OneCityOneVoice.

In the News

City of Mississauga’s Resident Town Hall Meeting

The meeting featured a presentation by City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer, Janice Baker on Mississauga’s position for independence, followed by moderated questions and comments from both audience members and those watching the live stream.