Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie readily admits that her city was “built with the vision that land and gas are cheap,” a concept that for years meant “four-bedroom homes and large boulevards” to transport office workers to Toronto.
But times are changing in Canada’s sixth-largest city, and Crombie says Mississauga is now at a “transformation point” in its history as it “embraces intensification” and begins to accumulate rather than go out.
The signs are visible from anywhere you look these days.
There is a Lakeview Village complex near the Toronto border along Lake Ontario, where a 177-acre site that was once occupied by a coal-fired power plant is planned to be transformed into a mixed-use community that will eventually consist of 8,000 new housing, a 200,000-square-foot retail space and a 20-acre “innovation neighborhood” that aims to become a center for technology and research.
Immediately to the west, construction is underway on the 18-kilometer Hurontario LRT, which will provide higher-order transit along the Mississauga’s commercial backbone for the first time, connecting Port Credit south with Steeles Avenue in Brampton.
And along the lake at Port Credit, three cranes rise high above another former industrial site, which is also being converted into a mixed-use community.
This one, called Brightwater, is being built on a 72-acre site that was once a Texaco refinery but has remained undeveloped since 1985 due to environmental concerns.
Once completed, the two new coastal complexes alone will bring approximately 27,000 new residents and thousands of jobs to the Mississauga coast, while helping to transform a city that Crombie admits has sometimes been overshadowed by its neighbor to the east.
But without the necessary supporting investments in roads, public transport and other infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, this type of density can create headaches for locals. That’s why the upcoming provincial election is becoming increasingly important to Crombie and many Mississauga residents.
“I think the eyes of the world are on us with the amount of development and renewal that is happening in the city, so it is vital to have a provincial partner who will continue to invest in cities and really understand the needs of municipalities.” Crombie told CP24.com in an interview last week. “Certainly the road network in the south of the city is very worrying, so we need investment in infrastructure to support the GO, LRT (Hurontario) train and the high-speed bus line, which is planned to ease traffic and congestion. that exists today, not to mention when these developments will be fully built … This is what keeps me awake at night. How do I move people to the south of our city?
The decision to narrow the scope of the Hurontario LRT remains controversial
Crombie said property taxes were not enough to “support the infrastructure needed” for all the development that is currently underway in Mississauga.
For this reason, she said it was important for the next provincial government to commit to funding the necessary infrastructure. She also wants Queen’s Park to consider providing the city with more than 800,000 people with its own set of revenue tools, as it did for Toronto.
In addition, she has a list of other inquiries for anyone who will be in the prime minister’s chair after June 2.
She wants to rebuild the so-called downtown area around Square One, which was withdrawn by Hurontario LRT amid rising costs – but she says she fears that the truly accessible downtown Mississauga will be “unattainable.”
She also wants a two-way service to be introduced on the Milton GO line, pointing out that as a net importer of jobs, more people actually end up in Mississauga than they start there.
“This train picks up people in Milton and Mississauga and takes them to Toronto in the morning. “I need to get millennials to work in Mississauga,” she said. “We have big pharmaceutical biotech companies that are right next to the GO station in Meadowale, and we can see that the station and its employees have to drive to work because trains can’t take them to Toronto and get them to their jobs. .
This train is going in the wrong direction. We need it to go all day, in both directions. “
The Tories took all six seats in the city in 2018
Mississauga has long been a leader in Ontario politics.
In 2018, the Tories defeated the Liberals in all existing rides of the city on the road to forming a majority government.
But in the 15 years of liberal rule before that, the city was something of a fortress for Gritza.
In fact, you need to go back to Mike Harris’ government to find out the last time his ride was blue before 2018.
“Mississauga is always quite emphatic, saying we are not a suburb. We are not a city that travels to work. We have, you know, some of the best Fortune 500 companies based here in the city, but for some reason we’re still trying to break that nut about Mississauga being a destination not only for smart business investments and these opportunities, but also for talent, “said Trevor McPherson, president and CEO of the Mississauga Board of Commerce, told CP24.com last week when asked about his views on the upcoming election. “We just need some well-thought-out talent programs.”
McPherson said Mississauga is entering a period “in which it can really enter into its own strength”, given the pace of development that is taking place.
He would like to see a “cool factor” in Mississauga with more passable neighborhoods close to work, along with cultural amenities.
But he said that in order to really benefit from the ongoing development, government partners must also invest millions in infrastructure to support and develop industries that already have a strong presence in Mississauga.
“That’s why we look at things like the wet lab space, which isn’t covered much in the media, but becomes a problem when a company reaches a certain size in the sector,” he said, noting that Mississauga has the second largest life sciences sector. county with approximately 25,000 jobs. “If they do not have the facilities to conduct their research and development of their products, we risk losing them from our competing jurisdictions south of the border or elsewhere where those facilities exist. So we really urge the province and other private sector players and developers to get involved in supporting the life sciences sector, because if Mississauga has a sector that is already positioned for increased growth, success and high-paying jobs, it certainly is life science sector. “
Will Hazel’s approval affect voters? All three of the party’s top leaders have already spent considerable time in Mississauga ahead of the June election, announcing everything from gas taxes to car insurance fees.
The Tories are hoping to get a boost in the city after longtime mayor Hazel McCallion backed progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford, calling him a “people’s prime minister.”
But at the same time, it is clear that some of the campaign platforms on which the party has historically relied on voters in courts in suburban Toronto may not have the same effect this time in Mississauga.
One can guess how all this will develop on June 2.
“We believe that investment in public transport should replace the construction of superhighways like 413,” said Crombie, rejecting a key aspect of Ford’s election campaign. “Let’s tackle the problems where they exist today, not in 2050. Let’s tackle the problems in urban areas today.” Mississauga at a Glance Population – 828,000 Rides: Six the city from red to blue, defeating the Liberals in all five existing rides and taking on the new Mississauga-Erin Mills ride. Watching race: Mississauga-Lakeshore – Progressive Conservative Rudy Lame defeated Liberal Minister Charles Souza by seven points in 2018, but the ride is represented at the federal level by Liberal Sven Spengemann in 2015. High-profile candidates – Two cabinet ministers in the previous government invitation from the Ford City Hall, including Associate Minister for Small Business and Reduction of Bureaucracy Nina Tangri (Mississauga-Streetsville) and Associate Minister for the Digital Government Khalid Rashid (Mississauga East-Cooksville).
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