Parrish, Crombie tied in race to become Mississauga’s next mayor, according to poll

New polling from Liaison Strategies shows that current Mississauga mayor Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie are neck-and-neck going into this October’s municipal election.

Liaison’s survey showed that Parrish and Crombie would each receive 35 per cent of the vote among decided and leaning voters, with current city councillors Dipika Damerla and Alvin Tedjo trailing well behind in third and fourth place, respectively.

Parrish and Crombie are tied at 26 per cent each among all voters, followed by Damerla at 13 per cent and Tedjo at nine per cent. The rest of voters marked their response as “undecided.”

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Mississaugans also seem to have a pessimistic outlook on the future for their city. Forty-six per cent of respondents said the city is moving in the wrong direction, compared with 32 per cent that said the opposite.

Election flashpoints

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The first signs of a chippy race came weeks ago, when Parrish and Crombie entered into some X beef over AI data centres.

Mississauga city council voted unanimously to approve the creation of an interim control bylaw that would put a one-year moratorium on data centre development in the city. Since the vote was unanimous, Parrish did not cast a ballot, but did express concerns about losing tax revenue.

Crombie took issue with Parrish not voting, saying the city is “drifting” under her leadership. Parrish responded, saying “the chair of a democratically conducted meeting is mandated not to influence the outcome of the debate” and that Crombie “abandoned our city.”

Beyond the data centre debate, Liaison principal David Valentin said Mississaugans are focused on a broad range of issues.

“Affordability is narrowly first at 19 per cent, taxes are at 17 per cent, housing is at 16 per cent, and crime and traffic are both at 13 per cent,” Valentin said. “Mississauga voters are not focused on one issue; they are looking at the cost of living, property taxes, housing, congestion, and public safety all at once.”

Valentin said all signs point to an unstable race. “This is a race with a vulnerable incumbent, a familiar former mayor, and a lot of undecided voters,” Valentin said.

“Parrish is not out of contention, but the numbers show she has work to do. Crombie remains competitive, Damerla has meaningful support and the city’s negative mood makes the next phase of the race much less predictable.”

Liaison surveyed a random sample of 1,000 Mississauga residents from Aug. 11 to Aug. 12, 2026. For the total sample, the margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The margin is higher for sub-samples. Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding.