Alvin Tedjo has been elected as the mayor of Mississauga. After a close three-way race between him, incumbent mayor Carolyn Parrish, and former mayor Bonnie Crombie, Tedjo emerged as the decisive winner, taking 39.21 percent of votes. Parrish was in second place with 27.30 percent of votes, and Crombie finished in third, at 22.74 percent. All results are unofficial until certified by the city clerk.

“Today, the city of Mississauga has made a clear and historic choice to demand change at city hall,” Tedjo said in his victory speech at Wildflower Kitchen + Social, while thanking Parrish and Crombie for their service in their previous mayoral terms.

“This is a tremendous responsibility I do not take lightly,” he said. “Over the course of this campaign, we put forward a comprehensive vision of how we would do things differently and deliver real, meaningful changes that would affect people’s lives for the better. Now, we will begin the difficult work of making our plan a reality.”

His victory follows a contentious campaign in which most polls showed a near-even split between him, incumbent Parrish, and three-term mayor Crombie. As the race grew increasingly acrimonious in the last few weeks, especially between the two former mayors, Tedjo received key endorsements from organizations such as Mississauga Muslim Vote and the Peel Regional Police Association—the latter’s first mayoral endorsement in the history of their organization.

Voter turnout was at 33.7 percent—a significant increase from the 2022 election, where turnout was just under 22 percent.

As councillor, Tedjo was chair of the City’s cycling advisory committee, and the region’s government relations committee. He was also vice-chair of the City’s planning and development and transit advisory committees.

Tedjo’s campaign focused on community safety, cost of living, housing, and congestion. Among his proposals were a citywide freeze on property taxes, and grants for break-in prevention equipment for small businesses. He wants to establish a Mississauga-based “vehicle security lab” that would use the City’s fleet of vehicles to test new security technology. He has also been vocal about his opposition to new data centers in Mississauga.

In early October, a volunteer for Tedjo’s campaign was attacked by a stranger with a knife while he was putting up election signs. The volunteer survived with non-life threatening injuries.

Council Races

Most of Mississauga’s existing city council will be returning to their posts, with nine of 11 incumbents winning re-election.

In Ward 2, one of just two open races in Mississauga, Tom Ellard has won the seat on council, taking 30.44 percent of the vote. Ellard faced a crowded field, with 14 candidates running to replace incumbent Alvin Tedjo, who left to launch his successful mayoral campaign. The race included Peel District School Board (PDSB) trustee Leeann Cole and former Crombie staffer Michelle Baker.

A consultant and veteran of the Canadian armed forces, Ellard is the co-founder of Libraries Not Landfills, a parent-led advocacy group pushing for the preservation of library materials in PDSB schools. He previously ran as a federal Conservative candidate in Mississauga-Lakeshore.

In Ward 7, 17 candidates threw their hat in the ring after Dipika Damerla left to run for mayor. Receiving 26.21 percent of the votes, Lucas Alves has won the seat.

Alves was previously a trustee in the PDSB representing Wards 3 and 4, and served as the board’s vice-chair. He campaigned on freezing the city’s share of property taxes and bolstering public safety through increased policing and measures such as lighting and speed bumps. He also said he was against “careless overdevelopment” in the ward.

Incumbents won the remaining seats on council.

Trustee Races

The spectre of Premier Doug Ford looms large over the school board trustee races in Mississauga. The city’s two largest boards—the Peel District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel District Catholic School board—are under provincial supervision. Trustees in both boards are unable to make decisions around governance, budgets, or policies, and are not allowed to communicate directly with parents.

Last week, City News reported that trustees at supervised boards will not be sworn in immediately following the election, until the Minister of Education or the board’s provincial supervisor officially calls the first meeting of the board.

The PDSB’s provincially appointed supervisor is Heather Watt, a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and former chief of staff to the deputy premier of Ontario.

Despite the lack of clarity around the future of trustees in their board, more than 20 candidates put their names forward to represent the six Mississauga wards in the PDSB (which also covers Brampton and Caledon). This includes four out of six incumbent trustees, with Lucas Alves and Leeann Cole stepping down to run for council.

In Alves’ former jurisdiction of Wards 3 and 4, Vince Cerullo has won.

Meanwhile, risk management consultant Charles Corey won Cole’s former seat in Wards 1 and 7.

Over at the DPCDSB, which has seven wards in Mississauga, three had candidates running unopposed who were elected by acclamation: Luz Del Rosario in Wards 6 and 11, Mario Pascucci in Wards 1 and 3, and Stefano Pascucci in Ward 4.

In Wards 2 and 8, Lucita Gonsalves has defeated incumbent Herman Viloria.

The remaining wards have been won by incumbents, with one—Brea Corbet of Wards 9 and 10—squeezing to victory by a mere 49 votes.

In the French public school board CSC Viamonde, incumbent Pierre Gregory won with more than 600 votes. The sole Mississauga trustee for the French Catholic school board CSC MonAvenir, Jennifer Green Frank, ran unopposed.