Dipika Damerla

Damerla would speed small-home permitting and expand co-op and non-profit housing.

• Professional Engineer's Seal pilot for small residential projects (garden/laneway suites, small homes, additions) to cut permitting duplication while keeping safety and zoning reviews.
• Work with federal/provincial governments to expand co-op and non-profit housing and help first-time buyers; compete aggressively for senior-government housing dollars.
• Push a healthier mix: townhomes, semis, family-sized condos, rental housing, smaller senior homes, co-op/non-profit housing.
• Concentrate major intensification near transit corridors and growth areas with infrastructure to support it; protect established neighbourhood character; demand complete communities.

Confidence:High

Damerla would freeze the city-controlled share of property taxes for 2027 and cap future increases at inflation.

• Freeze the City-controlled share of residential property taxes for 2027 (excluding Region-to-City transfers of roads/waste, offset by lower regional taxes), with no cuts to City services.
• From 2028, hold city-controlled increases to inflation unless residents get demonstrable service improvements.
• Create an independent Auditor General to investigate waste and report directly to the public, plus a confidential Fraud and Waste Hotline; cites Toronto's AG finding ~$342M in savings 2021-2025.
• End severance payments when elected officials voluntarily resign, retire, don't seek re-election, or resign to run for another office.

Confidence:High

Damerla wants an independent review of the Peel police funding formula and a mental-health crisis task force.

• Demand an independent review of the Peel Police funding formula (Mississauga pays ~62%, ~$93.7M more than a population-based share in 2025, projected $104M in 2026); push a population/service-demand-based formula with provincial help for the transition.
• Work with Peel Police on targeted CCTV at major road intersections for investigations — strictly a policing tool, no automated traffic tickets, with privacy rules.
• Three-pillar crime plan: modern policing + technology, justice-system reform advocacy (faster trials, stronger action on repeat offenders, bail reform), and value-for-money audits of police spending.
• Establish a Mayor's Task Force to improve mental-health crisis response, building on Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Teams (CMHA crisis worker + specially trained officer).
• Push the Province for a practical e-bike/e-scooter licensing and registration framework to make enforcement possible.

Confidence:High

Damerla proposes a One Mississauga Dashboard to publicly track services, projects and 311 requests.

• Create the 'One Mississauga Dashboard': one public hub to track city services, projects, budgets, 311 requests and performance.
• Connect phone and online 311 systems so a reference number works regardless of how a resident first contacted the City.
• Independent Auditor General would publicly report results of waste/fraud investigations while protecting whistleblowers; good-faith reporters protected, not punished.

Confidence:High

Damerla's OFF We GO transit plan focuses on reliability, 15-minute service and express buses.

• 'OFF We GO' transit plan: On Time (transit-priority signalling, better MiWay/GO coordination), Frequent (more 15-minute MiWay service, all-day two-way GO on the Milton Line), Fast (express buses, queue-jump lanes, GO feeder pilots).
• Fast Track higher-order transit: Derry, Eglinton and Dixie corridors; fight to bring the subway into Mississauga if extended to Sherway Gardens; push earlier electrification of the Lakeshore GO line as a 'surface subway' with two extra stops.
• Extend MiWay's transfer window from 2 to 3 hours in 2028; push the Province to assume Hazel McCallion LRT operating costs; hold Metrolinx accountable for construction delays.
• Maintain existing car lanes on busy roads; add bike lanes only where safe, useful and connected, without removing car lanes; use technology and traffic management.
• Four-Day Pothole Guarantee for major city roads, with public tracking through the One Mississauga Dashboard.

Confidence:High

Damerla's economic plan centres on tariff-hit business relief and a fast-track lane for manufacturers.

• Tariff Response Express Lane: faster site-plan/building-permit approvals, one City contact, and an Industrial Retention Team for tariff-hit manufacturers investing or retooling in Mississauga.
• Explore property-tax deferrals for qualifying tariff-hit businesses; defer development charges for affected manufacturers expanding/retooling; pay qualifying local suppliers within 15 days.
• Use city purchasing power to support Canadian and local businesses; explore Community Improvement Plans tied to real investment and job creation.
• First-year Health Innovation & Incubation Hub to commercialize health innovations locally ('Invent it here. Test it here. Fund it here. Build it here.'); Mississauga Global Investment Summit.
• Small business: cut average city business-permit processing times by 50%, publish timelines, create a Red Tape Feedback Portal, modernize outdated zoning/parking rules.

Confidence:High

Damerla proposes a Clean Parks Guarantee with six times more seasonal by-law officers and published cleanup performance.

• Introduce a 'Clean Parks Guarantee': increase proactive seasonal by-law officers from 4 to 24 in summer, focused on known problem parks.
• More frequent scheduled garbage collection at litter hotspots; administrative penalties for littering/illegal dumping where legally available.
• Hold large park users/permit holders accountable; publish park issues and cleanup performance on the One Mississauga Dashboard.

Confidence:High