Premier Doug Ford’s desire to continue his Progressive Conservative party’s hold on all six seats in Mississauga will be a key factor in the ability of Carolyn Parrish, the city’s newly-elected mayor, to move her agenda forward.
Parrish, who spent more than seven years as a Liberal MP, is not by nature politically aligned with the PC premier.
Yet, Ford has shown that he can see beyond political stripes. Look no farther than the new deal he struck with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow — a lifelong New Democrat who Ford previously claimed would be a disaster for the city if elected.
For her part, Parrish had people with Conservative political backgrounds involved in her mayoral campaign and has made it clear that she knows the importance of having a good working relationship with the premier.
“I’ve learned a lot from Olivia [Chow] watching her work with Ford. I think she’s doing a really good job,” Parrish told reporters shortly after her byelection win Monday.
Mississauga is crucial to gaining power at Queen’s Park. For the past 30 years, the party that won in Mississauga has also won the provincial election. In fact, in eight straight elections, the winning party has swept every Mississauga seat.
Mississauga residents have elected political veteran Carolyn Parrish as their next mayor, with over 43,000 votes. CBC’s Clara Pasieka was at Parrish party headquarters on Monday night as the results rolled in.
Ford could face a big challenge continuing that streak for another election, given that the politician who Parrish is replacing as mayor, Bonnie Crombie, now leads the Ontario Liberals. Crombie’s party desperately hopes her high profile in Mississauga will turn those blue seats red.
All of this adds up to plenty of incentive for Ford to keep the voters of Ontario’s third-largest city happy, potentially giving Parrish leverage with the province, according to political strategists.
“It’s not the type of city that’s always voted Conservative or always voted Liberal,” said Sarbjit Kaur, a veteran Liberal organizer who backed Parrish.
“The people of Mississauga can easily turn if they don’t feel that their needs are being met,” Kaur, who is co-founder of KPW Communications, said in an interview.
“No party can win a majority or be successful without support from the 905, so it’s very important that Mississauga be kept on side.”
With a provincial election looming as early as next year, Kaur said Parrish “will be able to make some demands and advocate for the city.”
Some of the key issues in the mayoral campaign — including crime, housing and taxes — certainly align with what Ford wants to tackle.
Parrish says the first thing she’ll be asking Ford for is what she calls “a fair share” of social services funding.
“We’ve slipped behind rather quite a bit. We’re getting about 60 per cent of what our population deserves,” Parrish told reporters Monday night.
‘She can’t do it alone’
Parrish will need to sit down with Ford and his top ministers to “sell the case of why it’s important for them to help the city of Mississauga,” said Stephen Adler, senior director with National Public Relations.
To help pay for infrastructure and affordable housing, Adler says Parrish should push for a new funding deal for Mississauga, similar to those Toronto and Ottawa struck with the province.
“She can’t do it alone. She needs help from other levels of government,” said Adler in an interview.
“If Queen’s Park and the federal government step up and help, she can accomplish a lot.”
Parrish acknowledged as much in one of the few media interviews she did during the campaign.
“I think you work really hard to get along with the leaders of those two governments,” Parrish said on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning last week.
“We’re at their mercy for grants.”
One example of that is how the Ford government withheld Mississauga’s 2024 share of the province’s $1.2 billion Building Faster Fund because the city didn’t even come close to hitting its target for new home construction starts in 2023.
Parrish willing to use ‘strong mayor’ powers
The city has argued that the measure is unfair. While the city has approved development of more than 30,000 housing units, construction has not started on the majority, something no municipal government has control over.
Ford has been relentlessly critical of Mississauga for the pace of home construction, although much of that has been primarily aimed as a critique of Crombie.
Parrish will inherit so-called “strong mayor” powers, in which the province gave big city mayors the ability to push through housing- and transit-related bylaw changes without the need for majority support form council. Parrish told reporters Monday night that she will use the powers “if I have to.”
“She’s very progressive on housing. She’s excited about things that can make the city more urban,” said Kaur.
“She’s very open to different ideas and working with many different people, which I think will help her in negotiating with the provincial government.”
Ford congratulated Parrish in a post on X, formerly Twitter, following her byelection win.
“I’m looking forward to working with you as we build a stronger Mississauga and a stronger Ontario,” he said