Councillors will rotate as Mississauga’s acting mayor while Bonnie Crombie takes a leave of absence as she seeks to become the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.
A statement from Crombie’s office sent to Global News Thursday confirmed that Crombie’s last day in office leading the city of more than 700,000 people will be Oct. 6.
“I can confirm that Mayor Crombie informed her council yesterday that she will be taking a leave of absence as the Mayor of Mississauga as she undertakes her bid to become the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party,” the statement said.
“In her absence, the City will operationalize the Acting Mayor By-law, which will see councillors rotate as Acting Head of Council on two-month rotations to fulfill mayoral duties such as chairing council and committee meetings and attending official city events on behalf of the mayor.”
Global News also learned Thursday that Crombie’s leave will be unpaid.
Crombie plans on spending the coming weeks working with the city manager to “review key priorities for council in the coming months,” including next year’s budget, the statement continued.
“The mayor has all the confidence that Mississaugans are in good hands and that council will continue to press forward on the issues that matter most to them including affordability, housing, transit and climate change,” it said, adding that Crombie will keep the city’s priorities “top of mind” as she embarks on her leadership bid.
Crombie filed her papers with Elections Ontario back in June, officially throwing her hat into the race to lead the Ontario Liberal Party.
The party was left without a leader after Stephen Del Duca resigned from the post in June 2022, following the provincial election. John Fraser has acted as the party’s interim leader since August 2022.
The party is set to choose a new leader using a ranked ballot vote on Nov. 25 and 26; the party is set to release round-by-round results on Dec. 2, the weekend after the vote.
Crombie was elected mayor of Mississauga in 2014, and won re-election in the 2018 and 2022 municipal elections.
The Ontario PC Party issued a statement after news broke of Crombie’s absence, which said, “It must be nice to take a prolonged vacation from your job.”
“It’s clear Bonnie only sees being mayor as a backup plan rather than what it is: a full-time job. She’s hedging her bets on becoming leader of the Ontario Liberals when she should be serving the people of Mississauga. Classic Bonnie: It’s always about her.”
— With files from Hannah Jackson
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