Leading candidates in Mississauga mayoral race face off in final debate

Mrs. Saga's mayoral race is definitely shaping up to be one to watch this election season with the current mayor, a former mayor, and two city councillors all hoping to steer the ship at City Hall. Well, tensions reached a boiling point at their last debate two weeks ago. And last night, the four leading candidates shared the stage again. This time, though, it was a much less heated face-off. The CBC Peel's Jaden Dill was at the debate in Port Credit and has the highlights. Heading into the final debate of the campaign, it was a return to calmness as the four leading candidates in Mississauga's mayoral race took a more level-headed approach. More than 200 residents gathered at the Christ First United Church in Port Credit to hear from those vying for Mississauga's top job. Current Mayor Carolyn Parrish, former Mayor Bonnie Crombie, Councillors Alvin Tejo and Topeka Demerla had engaged in a heated debate earlier this month with some of the exchanges becoming personal, like Parrish calling Crombie the blonde bombshell and that city staff were afraid of her returning to City Hall. I hope we can have a productive discussion because I know the last time the four of us got together, it wasn't so friendly. And I think the people of Mississauga deserve better. I don't think we want to embarrass our city tonight. Some of us thought we got pretty silly last time. I let someone get under my skin and I don't normally do that. and I regretted it right after it was over, and I vowed never to do it again. So what changed? The candidates spent less time rebutting each other and more time speaking to residents. So there was no cross-debating each other, or, you know, we didn't really correct the record when we thought somebody was inaccurate, we just let it slide. It's really a forum to give our own answers, and I think it was this type of debate that made it a lot friendlier. Almost an hour was set aside for the audience to ask questions ranging from property taxes to e-scooters. I'm appalled at the speed at which e-bikes and e-scooters are allowed to use our sidewalks and public trails. Enforcement's really hard if you don't have a licensing and registration framework, right? So I'm pushing for that. I've already pushed for that. It was unfortunate it wasn't supported at council. We tried to ban them and regulate them at our council meeting and we lost the vote. We need to be fighting, you know, Amazon and everyone else who are selling these illegal devices that are going more than twice the speed that they should be allowed to go. What I find most terrifying is young people that are driving them without a helmet. Can you imagine? If they're on an e-bike while they're legal, they should have a helmet on for goodness sakes. But yes, we've got to eliminate them. There are 14 mayoral candidates running for the top job in Mississauga. Residents will cast their vote for mayor on October 26. Jaden Dill, CBC News, Mississauga.