Carolyn Parrish will officially become the new mayor of Mississauga on June 24 after the results of the byelection were officially certified on Thursday.
The Mississauga city clerk confirmed Parrish was elected with 31 per cent of the vote, capturing over 43,000 of the 140,243 votes cast.
Ward 2 Coun. Alvin Tedjo finished second with 25 per cent of the vote, followed by fellow councillors Dipika Damerla and Stephen Dasko.
The politician will become only the fifth mayor in the city’s history, replacing Bonnie Crombie who left to become leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.
Natalie Hart, who is set to become the new Ward 5 councillor after winning the seat vacated by Parrish, will be sworn in at the same time.
The declaration of office ceremony is scheduled for June 24 at 7 p.m. in Mississauga city council chambers. They will take their oath of office there for the remainder of the 2022-2026 term.
The official voter turnout for the byelection was 25.71 per cent, representing an increase from the 2022 municipal election when just 21.84 per cent of eligible voters cast a ballot.
On the night of her victory, Parrish told CityNews housing remains her top priority in order to keep young people from moving away from the area.
“The first thing I’m going to do is pull together an advisory committee on housing. From good developers, good builders, and our staff and let’s see if we can speed the process up,” she said.
Parrish added Peel Region now has three mayors who “get along.”
“The region is going to be stronger now because you’re going to have three mayors that actually get along and we will be formidable when we go to Queen’s Park or Ottawa,” she said.