100K people will live in downtown Mississauga by 2050, so LRT loop is crucial: city

No longer satisfied with only a verbal commitment to the long-promised City Centre light-rail transit loop, Mississauga is pushing the province to take action.

City of Mississauga officials said this week they want the provincial government to provide “a clear implementation plan” for the “crucial” loop that’s to be completed in the city’s downtown core, where the population is expected to double to 100,000 by 2050.

The provincial government promised in January 2024 it was reinstating the downtown loop as part of the $4.6-billion Hazel McCallion Line LRT project — the largest transit undertaking in Mississauga’s history — after having dropped it from plans in a cost-cutting move in 2019.

However, no further details or commitments since then have come from government officials or Metrolinx, the provincial agency overseeing the major transit initiative.

This week, as the City of Mississauga finalizes its annual provincial pre-budget submission in which it identifies key priorities that need funding from the province, city officials are asking for a more concrete government commitment to the downtown loop.

The loop, or downtown extension, will run off of Hurontario Street near Square One Shopping Centre and circle around the high-rise condos and office buildings, and other businesses in the City Centre, when completed.

“Crucial” component of the Hazel McCallion Line

It’s a “crucial” component, city officials note, of what will be a 22-kilometre Mississauga-to-Brampton LRT route on Hurontario Street that’s currently without a specific completion date.

In a draft of their 2026 request for provincial funding presented to general committee on Wednesday, senior city staff said that with Mississauga’s downtown population forecast to double to almost 100,000 by 2050, in an area with more than 100 residential and office towers, “the downtown extension is a critical piece of infrastructure that will support economic development and housing densification.”

(Source: Metrolinx)

Continuing, the city said as construction on the Hazel McCallion Line moves forward, “we’re waiting for Metrolinx to provide an implementation plan for the downtown extension. We’re asking for the province to work with Metrolinx to establish a clear implementation plan and timeline for this crucial project to be completed.”

This time last year, Mississauga Ward 6 Coun. Joe Horneck gently questioned the province’s commitment to the downtown loop, saying at the time he was a little bit nervous.

“One of our big asks (of the provincial government) has been the downtown loop, which we keep hearing ‘It’s good to go, it’s good to go, it’s good to go’,” Horneck said nearly a year ago at city council, adding “except we’ve never actually had a photo op there or the Premier announcing here at Celebration Square that we’re doing something, which would make me feel a little bit better.

“I know Brampton had their announcement of a big dig (for a tunnel section of the LRT) that they’re doing up there, which anecdotally mentioned the loop, but I always feel that when you have no dollars committed and you have no timeline on things, it feels thin sometimes.”

The City Centre needs the loop, mayor says

Mayor Carolyn Parrish, speaking at the same meeting in early 2025, agreed, noting the importance of the downtown loop to the city, specifically the downtown core.

She said when you look at the City Centre area around Square One — all the high-rise condos, office buildings, restaurants, other businesses — “you realize how big that is and how many people are living in there. And if you can’t have your transit go around there, there’s really almost no point to it.

“That is the area you’ve got to really pick people up (on transit) and get them out of cars; especially now that we’re building (in the area) with zero mandatory parking, it’s important.”

When the Hurontario Street LRT line is completed, more than 20 passenger stops will serve riders along the route, which will run from Port Credit GO station all the way north to downtown Brampton.

Initially, the Hazel McCallion Line was to open to riders in fall 2024. However, ongoing delays have pushed the timeline back significantly and Metrolinx hasn’t provided a revised completion date.

Not long ago a believer the much-delayed LRT route might open the doors to riders by 2026, Parrish recently amended her estimate.

“I don’t expect to see anybody on (the Hazel McCallion Line) before 2029,” Parrish told INsauga.com during an interview late in 2025.

If she’s right, that would put the massive transit project, the largest in Mississauga’s history, roughly four to five years behind schedule.