Rookie councillor Alvin Tedjo has been elected mayor of Mississauga, a stunning against-the-odds victory over a pair of political heavyweights.
Tedjo, 43, began his campaign trailing in fourth place in the polls, well behind incumbent mayor Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie, and even though his momentum grew rapidly through the campaign, the race seemed too close to call.
But his victory on election night was decisive, with a lead of more than 20,000 votes over Parrish and 30,000 over Crombie.
“My friends, Mississauga has voted for change,” Tedjo said to a chorus of cheers at his victory party.
“When we started this six months ago, we knew it was going to be tough. People told us we couldn’t win … But I wanted to fight for this city.”
After a hard-fought, fiery campaign, Tedjo and his opponents were gracious in their speeches.
“Alvin, your energy, your enthusiasm and the joy you bring to politics matter,” said Crombie, with her three children standing beside her on stage. “Tonight, a new generation takes the reins.”
In a concession speech to her supporters, Parrish congratulated Tedjo, joking that he can call her anytime and she’ll tell him “what not to do.”
“I’m at peace. I know I did a good job,” said Parrish of her time as mayor.
The race could have been a rematch of the 2024 byelection to replace three-term mayor Crombie, when she left to become Ontario Liberal leader and unsuccessfully challenged Premier Doug Ford. Parrish seized the unexpected moment to realize her dream of becoming mayor, beating Tedjo, who fought his way into second place.
Two years later, Tedjo chose not to make the far easier choice of running for a second term on council but instead to take on Parrish once again.
Then Crombie entered the race, with polls showing her neck-and-neck with Parrish.
As the front-runners sparred, Tedjo’s rise began, fuelled by a hopeful and sometimes quirky social media presence and an affordability-focused platform that promised to freeze the city’s portion of property taxes, with a permanent option for seniors.
A pivotal moment in the contest came in early October during a jaw-dropping mayoral debate.
Crombie launched a fierce attack on Parrish as an absent mayor and a heated exchange between the two culminated in Parrish snapping that city staff are “terrified the blond bombshell is coming back.”
The debate was memed online and mocked on ”This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” pushing some voters to look elsewhere on the stage for an alternative.
They settled on Tedjo.
Tedjo pitched himself as a breath of fresh air who personally understands the challenges facing Mississauga residents — from affordable housing to reliable transit to safety. He shared the story of his Chinese-Indonesian parents who immigrated to Canada in the 1970s and settled in Mississauga where Tedjo and his wife, a pediatric nurse, are now raising their three kids.
Crombie and Parrish both praised Tedjo as a talented councillor, but said he lacked the experience for the top job and that his property tax plans were unrealistic. Tedjo countered that he isn’t promising a long-shot subway extension from Kipling Station in Toronto to Square One in downtown Mississauga like Crombie, or a $2.5 billion downtown transformation like Parrish.
Crombie, meanwhile, faced an uphill battle to convince voters that the mayor’s chair was not a consolation prize after being trounced on the provincial stage.
During her campaign she often invoked the 2014 endorsement of Hazel McCallion that helped her succeed the long-time mayor, but Tedjo’s victory may indicate McCallion’s influence in the voting booth is waning.
Parrish, who recently turned 80, touted her progress on housing and savings that will come as Mississauga takes over some services previously handled by Peel Region in a long-awaited partial separation.
But in an election that often focused on the 24 per cent rise in property taxes over the last four years, Parrish had to defend her work managing city finances in a volatile economy, along with a rapidly rising police budget.
While an unusual Peel police union endorsement may have boosted Tedjo’s profile in the race, he also faced criticism for his support for the historic 2025 police budget increase.
Tedjo has maintained that the police union endorsement is not a “blank cheque” but that a good working relationship with the Peel police service, like Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s, will benefit safety in Mississauga.
“It feels like anything’s possible, and I think that’s a good thing. We want more people involved in politics,” he said of his overwhelming victory. Now, he added, it’s time to deliver on his promises, starting with the budget.
