Former councillor and MP Carolyn Parrish appears to have emerged victorious in Mississauga’s mayoral race.
With 98 per cent of polls reporting, Parrish appears to be more than 8,000 votes ahead of her closest competitor, first-term councillor Alvin Tedjo.
“I just messaged our former councillor Carolyn Parish to congratulate her on her win tonight,” Tedjo told his campaign in a concession speech shortly after 9 p.m. “I wish her well in her new role as Mayor of Mississauga.”
While Parrish opened with a wide lead in the polls early in the race, her nearly 20-point advantage in early May had all but evaporated by the last week of the race.
There were 20 candidates on the ballot, with a handful running elections competitive enough to register in the polls. Most of them were current or former city councillors. They included Dipika Damerla, Alvin Tedjo and Stephen Dasko. Brian Crombie, the ex-husband of the former mayor, was also in the running.
Parrish, 77, was first elected as a school board trustee in the 1980s before becoming involved in federal politics in the ’90s. She was elected to the House of Commons for the first time in 1993 as a Liberal MP. She remained in Parliament until 2006. She won a seat on Mississauga council in a municipal election the same year. While she lost her seat in 2010, she was back in 2014 when she was elected to represent Ward 5.
She stepped down from council earlier this year in order to focus on her run for mayor.
During the campaign, Parrish said housing was the top issue facing Mississauga residents, with many young people moving away because they can no longer afford to live in the city.
“Most of the GTA cities are growing, and it’s usually young people. They grow up in Mississauga. They want to live in Mississauga, and they can’t afford the rent, and they can’t afford to buy a house,” she told CP24 in an interview.
She said while gentle infill is part of the solution, the city needs more aggressive density and needs to make it easier for developers to get projects approved.
While she’s rejected the idea of a tax freeze, Parrish has said she’d like to keep property taxes at or below the rate of inflation. She’s proposed quarterly rather than annual budget meetings in order to keep the city’s finances on-track.
Parrish managed to ,come out ahead despite sharp criticism by her rivals for comments she made in an early debate about federal refugee programs and Transgender bathrooms. She claimed her comments had been taken out of context.
She subsequently declined to participate in further debates, citing “a new style of politics” and the safety of her staff.
But she told CP24 that she wasn’t hiding from accountability.
“I’ve been accountable for 18 years on city council. I’m outspoken. I speak on every issue. People who follow politics know exactly where I stand on everything,” she said.
She also said she’s been physically threatened in the past over “controversial issues.”
The special byelection was called after former mayor Bonnie Crombie stepped down from the post to lead the Ontario Liberal Party. Crombie held the top job at City Hall for more than nine years. She followed legendary Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, who held the role for 36 years before that.
Asked by CP24 in a recent interview why she wants a busy job as mayor toward the end of a more than three-cade long career in politics, Parrish said serving on council has been her favourite job.
“Well, it is a big job. And I’ve really enjoyed Council,” she said. ” I’ve enjoyed being a city councilor much more than any of the other jobs I’ve done. It’s a fabulous job. You don’t have any partisanship. You just listen to your constituents.”