Most diverse Mississauga council ever is more reflective of city, mayor says
Published October 27, 2022 at 12:10 pm
It took a couple of retirements by long-serving councillors and the sudden resignation earlier this year of another member to give Mississauga city council a new–and more diverse–look.
In the wake of Monday’s municipal election results, four new faces are now among the 12, including Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who will gather for the inaugural meeting of council on Nov. 15.
That largely ceremonial affair will be followed the next morning by a council meeting where members get back down to business.
Joining Ward 7 Councillor Dipika Damerla, who handily won re-election, as new diverse faces on council will be Ward 2 Councillor Alvin Tedjo (who takes over from outgoing Pat Mullin/Karen Ras, the latter of whom resigned in January due to a conflict with former councillor Ron Starr) and Martin Reid in Ward 9 (takes the reins from retiring councillor Pat Saito).
Longtime Mississauga Board of Trade executive Brad Butt, who ran unsuccessfully for council on three prior occasions, found the magic formula this time and will take the Ward 11 seat, succeeding the retiring George Carlson.
Videos
New Ward 2 Councillor Alvin Tedjo (Photo: Twitter)
Joe Horneck, who won decisively over incumbent Ron Starr in Ward 6 after narrowly losing in 2018, rounds out the new faces on council.
In an Instagram interview earlier this week with insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura, Crombie talked about the importance of having a more diverse council–the most diverse council in Mississauga’s history.
“It means we’re finally starting to reflect the demographic that is our community, our city, and that is an important change,” said Crombie, noting the several outgoing “long-tenured councillors” (Mullin, Saito, Carlson) did a great job for their residents while on council.
New Ward 9 Councillor Martin Reid (Photo: Twitter)
“These are people who served a long time and did a great job, but you know they reflected the demographic of about 30 years ago when they started. And we all know the power of incumbency and how difficult it is to replace an incumbent, especially one doing a really great job.
“So now we’re moving, it’s shifting and that’s very exciting. Imagine, a council of 12 and we have a one-third turnover.”
Crombie added she was able to congratulate Tedjo, Reid and Horneck in person on Monday night, as the three newcomers dropped in on her victory party.
She added she spoke by phone with Butt to welcome him to council chambers.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising
View this post on Instagram