Meet Mississauga Mayoral candidate Dipika Damerla

It was just last summer when the City of Toronto went through a pivotal mayoral by election. Fast forward to 2024 and Mississauga residents are getting set to head to the polls to elect a new civic leader. That will no doubt set the West End city on a new path. We’re talking affordable housing, crime prevention, particularly auto theft. We’ll talk about that in a moment. And transit expansion. Just a few of the things that are dominating headlines right now. And one person who has her sights set on this job is Ward 7 Councillor Topeka Demarola, thank you so much for joining. Happy to be here. Let’s talk about your platform. We have a few weeks to go, just under a month You want to freeze residential property taxes for two years. Actually, what I’m saying is that I will keep property taxes at or below the rate of inflation because I believe that any promise to freeze property taxes is unrealistic. OK, And then that was my question, because if you say we’re freezing and then that means what happens with the services if, if you’re going to stay in that lane, what are the promises when it comes to services and keeping them intact? So absolutely, you know, the priority is to build a livable Mississauga and making sure that Mississauga is livable. So we making sure that the services that our residents rely on are not compromised is #1. And that’s why I’ve been very responsible in balancing, yes, there’s an affordability crisis, but yes, city services are critical. So what my position is providing value for your tax dollars. You’re paying taxes. I want to make sure that you’re getting value for your tax dollars. There’s an affordability crisis. So the responsible thing is I’m going to make sure that our taxes don’t increase beyond the rate of inflation. So keep it beyond at or below the rate of inflation is my commitment. It’s a very responsible commitment. Anyone who’s saying freeze taxes is being irresponsible. OK, let’s talk about some of the services. Mississauga, like many cities in the GTA, it is growing, it is diverse. People need to get around. So with that, the idea of transit, where do you stand when it comes to building right now and what needs to be done and what is currently being done? So what I like to say is everyone agrees we need to build more homes, but it’s not enough to just build homes. We need to build neighborhoods and we need to build a city that continues to be livable. That means as we grow, I don’t want congestion. So how do we get that? We need to build neighborhoods that are more walkable because that reduces car dependence and it’s more convenient and we need to build transit. So we have the north-south, HERE, Ontario LRT going, we need some east West connections. I’m proposing that the Dundas BRT be converted into an LRT east of here, Ontario. And also, you know, there’s talk of the City of Toronto bringing the subway to Sherway. If that happens, it’s a hop, skip and jump to Mississauga. So part of my platform is, if the subway comes to Sherway, I’m going to make sure it comes to Mississauga because that’s going to be a game changer for our city. Yeah. When we talk about something like transportation, a lot of heads are in the game, not just at the municipal level. We talk to the province and then even to some extent, the feds as well. Obviously, with your experience as an MPP, what does that bring for your platform when you have that experience at Queens Park, when you have that those conversations, you’ve had them on the other end? Yeah, How does that help you in this position? You know, I’m the only candidate that’s actually has cabinet level experience. I’ve run a ministry. I know how Queen Spark works. I know how ministers work, how the ministry works, how it interacts with PO, the relationships that you need to nurture. So yes, you know, we are creatures of the province, and the most critical relationship is the one with the province. And I’m the only one who has served as counselor and as MPP, served in cabinet. I’m well positioned to make sure Mississauga gets its share from the problem. How is that relationship right now? It’s fantastic. Yeah, it’s fantastic. You know, met Premier Ford a few times. We’ve got along really well and I look forward to having a great relationship with him. How much stock do you take into some of the polls that have come out as of late? I always ask this on whether or not it is just noise or if it’s something that that switches your platform in the weeks to come. So the most recent one came out on Monday where you had for decided voters, you were sitting second at 20% support. What do you make of those results or do you sort of just tunnel vision and don’t think about any of that? It’s really early days. People are not paying attention yet. And there’s been so many polls. There’s polls where I’m neck and neck first, you know, within the margin of error between 1st and 2nd. The one thing that’s consistent is I’ve been second and there have been times when I’ve been neck and neck when. So it’s really hard to read these polls. And the only poll that matters, as you know, and I know, is election dates still far away. People are still tuning in. So for now, I don’t think these polls made these polls mean that much. Yeah. And outside of the polls, there are debates as well, a lot to come before that June 10th date for any Mississauga voters who are tuning in now. And what is your final message to them as they make that decision with these really, really important final weeks to go? What would you like to say? So what I want to say is I’m the most experienced candidate, but also what I bring to the table is I am firm about this. We need to build more homes, but that’s not enough. We need to build neighbourhoods and we need to manage the growth. And what I have to offer is I am promising to manage the growth in a pragmatic way, in a practical way. And we have an example on Bloor St. they want to take two car lanes off gratuously. And I’m saying don’t take the car lanes off because there’s a way to keep the car lanes and add the bike lanes on the Boulevard, which is safer for the bike cyclists as well. So this is, this is how I differ from everybody else. There’s a lot of people are saying, well, let’s take the car lanes off to put bike lane that I’m saying, let’s keep the car lanes and add the bike lanes. That’s a pragmatic approach, ’cause I don’t want to create gridlock on Bloor Street. So that’s what I have on offer. There is a lot more that we could discuss, but we’re unfortunately out of time. What we’ll do is we’re gonna put this whole interview on our website, citynews.ca. Deepika Demarla, best of luck to you, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing more. Thank you so much. Thank you.