Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish says she has convinced Premier Doug Ford to fix the Peel police funding formula that she argues has left Mississauga residents unfairly paying more than Brampton for years.
Parrish made the claim on the stage of the first mayoral debate of the campaign Friday afternoon, after facing criticism for resigning from the Peel police board, a decision she has defended as necessary to challenge unprecedented police budget increase requests.
Parrish said she met the premier at his home six weeks ago and that he committed to making the change when the legislature reconvenes in November.
“He looked at the charts I gave him, he studied them, he said ‘this isn’t fair and I’m going to have to fix it.’ And I said ‘when can you fix it?’ And he said … ‘November, when the house is back in session,’” Parrish told reporters after the debate. “I’m hoping he’ll subsidize Brampton over a couple of years and transition them through.”
She said isn’t sure what the exact proposal would be though she’d be happy with a 50-50 split over the current 62-38 that leaves the bulk of the cost on Mississauga taxpayers, she said. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has pushed back on the idea that the formula is unfair, citing specific costs that come from Mississauga linked to Pearson airport, for which they get partially reimbursed, and the marine unit.
“Mayor Brown doesn’t want to talk about it,” Parrish said Friday. “Would you? He’s had amazing advantage for the last few years. I think he’s not going to be too happy about it.”
In a statement Friday evening, Brown contradicted Parrish’s claim that a funding formula change is coming.
“The government have advised me that the province does not intend to change the formula used to allocate urban municipal police costs in Ontario which is based on MPAC property assessments,” he said. “The Solicitor General has encouraged the Peel Police Service Board to pursue full cost recovery for policing at Pearson, so Peel taxpayers are not subsidizing that service.”
All four candidates on the debate stage — Parrish, former Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie as well as current councillors Alvin Tedjo and Dipika Damerla — agree that the funding model should be changed. Ford’s agreement to change the funding model is not contingent on her being re-elected in October, Parrish said.
Ford has said he would send “an army” to stop former Liberal leader Crombie from being elected mayor, but Crombie has maintained she’s worked with Ford well before and will again.
”I don’t know if he would feel the same way if somebody got to be mayor that he didn’t particularly like or what he’d do,” Parrish said. “But I think if it’s not fair, it’s not fair so it’s got to be fixed.”
Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The at-times heated Friday debate, hosted by the Mississauga Board of Trade in partnership with CBC News, was the first time Parrish and Crombie had the opportunity to take online skirmishes in-person.
Their battle is an unusual one, for an Oct. 26 election that has been described as a two-incumbent race. Crombie became the first mayor to succeed Hazel McCallion in 2014 and stepped down halfway through her third term to challenge Ford, by becoming Ontario Liberal leader. Parrish won the byelection to replace Crombie in 2024 — and has been pointedly sharing a CP24 clip from that night in which Crombie praises Parrish and says she will be a “formidable mayor.”
After months of speculation following her resignation as Liberal leader last year in the wake of another Ford victory and a failure to win the Mississauga East—Cooksville seat at Queen’s Park, Crombie launched her mayoral campaign in mid-July — prompting her rivals, including Parrish, to claim she sees being mayor as a fallback or consolation prize.
The last time the two women faced off in an election was in 2011, during a byelection for Mississauga’s Ward 5. Crombie narrowly won that one, and the seat was picked up by Parrish when Crombie ran for mayor.
Here are three other takeaways from the debate.
What are the duties of a mayor
Parrish was criticized not just for stepping down from the police board but for sending deputies to other events like gatherings of big-city mayors.
”The concern here is that you’re not sitting at these tables,” said Tedjo. “Other mayors of other big cities are sitting at the table negotiating on behalf of those cities. Whether it’s the police board, whether it’s big-city mayors, whether it is going up to Ottawa.” Tedjo argued that other cities have been more successful in securing federal funding.
“I am working my tail off on a regular basis,” Parrish shot back.
In response to a similar attack from Crombie she said: “That is ridiculous. (Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow) doesn’t go to all these things. I don’t go to all these things because we are very large cities and we’re developing quickly. We have hundreds of problems we have to deal with on a regular basis. I sit behind my desk in city hall.”
A new music venue in Mississauga city centre
Parrish also took fire from other candidates over her plan to replace the deteriorating Living Arts Centre with a new music venue and convention centre that was presented to council in a staff report earlier this year.
“There’s nothing more depressing than thinking about the fact that the little green space we have in downtown Mississauga is going to become a convention centre that no residents can really use,” Damerla said, calling the plan a ”$2.5 billion mistake” at a time when concert venues in Toronto are struggling.
“We can never, never commit to using public land for anything other than the public good,” Crombie said.
Parrish cited The Well in Toronto as an example of what the development might look like, and said the plan will draw in private investment for a hotel and bring in billions in revenue for the city. She said the loss of park space would be made up with rooftop parks.
The pros and cons of data centres
Mississauga council recently voted to impose a one-year pause on data centre development so staff can review concerns about water, power and noise. At the debate Parrish spoke in support of introducing artificial intelligence-related data centres in a “safe and comfortable way” to attract modern and growing industries to Mississauga.
The other candidates questioned whether data centres generate local jobs, whether it is the best use of that swath of developable land, and whether the plan would support Canadian data sovereignty.
“I’m not saying no to data centres, but do they have to be in a densely populated city like Mississauga, where we are already losing employment lands to residential?” said Damerla in response to a question from Parrish, adding that location matters. “I don’t think it’s a blanket yes or no.”
Future debates
Parrish, Crombie, Tedjo and Damerla will be participating in a debate on Oct. 1 hosted by Food Banks Mississauga and the Metamorphosis Network and livestreamed by CityNews. Another debate is planned for Oct. 5 hosted by Queen’s Park-focused publication Policorner and co-moderated by NEWSTALK 1010 host John Moore, with Crombie, Tedjo and Damerla confirmed as attending.
