2024 Mississauga Mayoral Debate - Hosted by Food Banks Mississauga

On May 23, 2024, Food Banks Mississauga hosted a debate for the Mississauga By-Election Mayoral race. Participating candidates were Dipika Damerla, Brian Crombie, Stephen Dasko, and Alvin Tedjo - who answered questions about poverty, food insecurity, and affordable housing in Mississauga and how their platforms seek to address these important issues in our city.

A special thank you to CityNews for livestreaming and Mark McAllister for moderating the debate. For more information on the upcoming Mayoral election, visit mississaugavotes.ca

00:00 Welcome to Debate
00:52 Candidate Introductions
02:15 Opening Remarks

09:33 Theme 1: Food Security & Affordability
10:00 How will you meet peoples’ needs NOW and keep people fed?
18:24 How do you propose to lower the cost of living?

26:23 Theme 2: Housing Security
27:25 Share your vision and implementation plan for working with both residents and developers to increase supply of, and access to, Mississauga’s affordable housing.
35:02 How do you plan to address NIMBYism while prioritizing the affordability needs of the vast majority of Mississauga residents?
37:31 What policies and/or program(s) will you commit to working with the Region on to ensure vulnerable unhoused community members can access homes they can afford and keep long term?

45:14 Theme 3: Income Security
46:00 How will you work with the Province to increase social assistance so that Ontario Works recipients receive the increase they desperately need? What are your next steps?
53:43 How will you use your platform to advocate for better funding for Mississauga?

1:02:30 Mississauga is increasingly young and increasingly diverse. What lived experience do you bring to support this changing community and improve the lives of young people in Mississauga?
1:10:01 In what situations would you use your strong mayoral powers for?

1:16:06 Closing Remarks