Bonnie Crombie may try again to be mayor of Mississauga

Buoyed by the results of a new poll, Bonnie Crombie says she may try to recapture the mayor’s seat in Mississauga.

Crombie, who was mayor for 10 years starting in 2014, stepped away from the position in 2024 for a successful run as the Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party.

In September, she announced she would step down from her provincial position following a leadership review and a poor showing in the 2025 Ontario election, where the Liberals finished third and she failed to win a seat in the riding of Mississauga East-Cooksville.

However, poll results just released indicate she would win if an election for Mississauga mayor were held today, with 38 per cent of respondents saying they would support her, as compared to the 34 per cent who would support current Mayor Carolyn Parrish.

The next municipal election will be held in October of next year.

The poll was conducted on Oct. 22 and 23 by Liaison Strategies, a national public opinion research firm. Results were collected using interactive voice response technology and surveyed 800 Mississauga voters. The margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.46%, 19 times out of 20.

Today’s findings are in sharp contrast to the findings in September of an INsauga.com poll that asked readers: “If Bonnie Crombie decides to run for mayor of Mississauga again, would you vote for her?”

The results then were decisive:

• 75.1 per cent (2,058 votes) said “No – I would not vote for her.

• 24.9 per cent (682 votes) said “Yes – I would vote for her.”
  (as of 7 a.m. Sept 16, 2025)

Still, the current findings were enough for Crombie to tell Global News she would not rule out running for mayor of Mississauga again in 2026.

“All options are on the table as I reflect on my next path and where I can have the most impact,” she told Global News.

Parrish has already said she would be seeking re-election.

David Valentin, Principal at Liaison Strategies, said there has been a recent tradition of opposition leaders successfully running for mayor after failed provincial elections. He pointed to Liberal Steven Del Duca in Vaughan and Andrea Horwath of the NDP in Hamilton as two who became mayors.

The Liaison Strategies poll also showed that Parrish, at 45 per cent, had the second-lowest approval rating of the 10 Ontario big city mayors in municipalities where surveys were taken.

The same poll found that the top issue for Mississauga residents is crime at 29 per cent, followed by affordable housing at 18 per cent and traffic at 13 per cent.