Mississauga

This article is about the City of Mississauga. For the First Nation tribe, see Mississaugas.

Mississauga
City
City of Mississauga
Clockwise from top: Skyline of Mississauga, University of Toronto Mississauga, Absolute World Condos, Downtown Skyline, Mississauga Civic Centre, Condominium Skyline.
Flag Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Pride in past, Faith in our future. Be strong. Be Proud.
Location of Mississauga in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the province of Ontario
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
Region	Peel
Established	1968, as a town
Incorporated	1974, as a city
Government
• Mayor	Hazel McCallion
• Council	Mississauga City Council
• MPs	List of MPs Eve Adams (CPC) Stella Ambler (CPC) Brad Butt (CPC) Bob Dechert (CPC) Bal Gosal (CPC) Wladyslaw Lizon (CPC)
• MPPs	List of MPPs Dipika Damerla (OLP) Bob Delaney (OLP) Amrit Mangat (OLP) Jagmeet Singh (NDP) Charles Sousa (OLP) Harinder Takhar (OLP)
Area
• Total	292.40 km2 (112.90 sq mi)
Elevation	156 m (512 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	713,443 (6th)
• Density	2,439.9/km2 (6,319/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Postal code span	L4T to L5W
Area code(s)	905 and 289
Demonym	Mississaugan Saugan
Website	www.mississauga.ca

Mississauga /ˌmɪsɪˈsɒɡə/ ^ⓘ is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It lies on the shores of Lake Ontario, located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, in the western part of the Greater Toronto Area. The city has a population of 713,443 as of the Canada 2011 Census, and is Canada's sixth-most populous municipality.

Initially developed as a suburb of Toronto, Mississauga's growth is attributed to its proximity to that city. It is the largest suburb in Anglo-America by population. However, as the city ran out of vacant lands, the city shifted its focus to building a full-fledged downtown core while shaping its new identity as a distinct city from Toronto. Residents of the city are called Mississaugans and Saugans.

The city is placed first overall in 'mid-sized cities of the future' by financial publication fDi Magazine for North and South American cities, placing first in business friendliness, second in economic potential, and fourth in infrastructure and foreign direct investment strategy. Mississauga was also rated as Canada's 11th best city to live in terms of prosperity according to MoneySense magazine. It is the fourth most walkable large city in Canada according to Walk Score. Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport is located in the city, and it is the location of several major corporate headquarters for Canada.

History

At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600s, both Iroquoian and Algonquian-speaking peoples already lived in the Credit River Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the French traders found around the Credit River area were the Algonquian Mississaugas, a tribe originally from the Georgian Bay area. The name "Mississauga" comes from the Anishinaabe word Misi-zaagiing, meaning "[Those at the] Great River-mouth." By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois yet during the Beaver Wars they played a neutral or post-emptive role.

Toronto Township, consisting of most of present-day Mississauga, was formed on August 2, 1805 when officials from York (what is now Toronto) purchased 84,000 acres (340 km²) of land from the Mississaugas. In January 2010, the Mississaugas and the federal government settled a land claim, in which the band received $145,000,000, as more just compensation for their land and lost income.

The original villages (and some later towns) settled included: Lakeview, Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale (called Springfield until 1890), Lorne Park, Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as Toronto Township. Part of northeast Mississauga, including the Airport lands and Malton were part of Gore Township.

After the land was surveyed, the Crown gave much of it in the form of land grants to United Empire Loyalists who emigrated from the Thirteen Colonies during and after the American Revolution, as well as loyalists from New Brunswick. A group of settlers from New York City arrived in the 1830s. The government wanted to compensate the Loyalists for property lost in the colonies and encourage development of what was considered frontier. In 1820, the government purchased additional land from the Mississaugas. Additional settlements were established, including: Barbertown, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Mount Charles, and Streetsville. European-Canadian growth led to the eventual displacement of the Mississaugas. In 1847, the government relocated them to a reserve in the Grand River Valley near present-day Hagersville.

In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area much as a result of the many railway lines passing through the township which spurred on industry, the Toronto Township Council was formed to oversee the affairs of the various villages that were unincorporated at that time. The Council's responsibilities included road maintenance, the establishment of a police force, and mail delivery service. Except for small villages, some gristmills and brickworks served by railway lines, most of present-day Mississauga was agricultural land, including fruit orchards, through much of the 19th and first half of the 20th century.

Cottages were constructed along Lake Ontario in the 1920s as weekend getaway houses for city dwellers.

Malton Airport opened in 1937, which would become Canada's busiest, Lester B. Pearson International Airport.

The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) highway, one of the first controlled access highways in the world opened from Highway 27 to Highway 10, Port Credit, in 1935 and later to Hamilton and Niagara in 1939. The first prototypical suburban developments occurred around the same time, in the area south of the Dixie Road/QEW interchange. Development in general moved north and west from there over time and around established towns. Large-scale developments, such as in Meadowvale and Erin Mills, sprang up in the 1960s and 70s.

With the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, the township settlements of Lakeview, Cooksville, Lorne Park, Clarkson, Erindale, Sheridan, Dixie, Meadowvale Village, and Malton were amalgamated by a somewhat unpopular provincial decree in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. The town name was chosen by plebiscite over "Sheridan". Political will, as well as a belief that a larger city would be a hegemony in Peel County, kept Port Credit and Streetsville as independent island towns encircled by the Town of Mississauga. In 1974, both were annexed by Mississauga when it reincorporated as a city. That year, the sprawling Square One Shopping Centre opened, which has since expanded many times.

On November 10, 1979, a 106-car freight train derailed on the CP rail line while carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals just north of the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas Street. One of the tank cars carrying propane exploded, and since other tank cars were carrying chlorine, the decision was made to evacuate nearby residents. With the possibility of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town.

Mississauga Civic Centre seen from the south-east. This design was supposed to reflect the influence of farmsteads which once occupied much of Mississauga, the architecture is based on a "futuristic farm" (the clock tower is the windmill, the main building on the top-right corner is the farmhouse, the cylindrical council chamber is the silo, and the building on the bottom left represents a barn)

Later when the mess had been cleared and the danger neutralized residents were allowed to return to their homes. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. Due to the speed and efficiency in which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For many years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was to Canadians associated with a major rail disaster.

North American telephone customers placing calls to Mississauga (and other post 1970 Ontario cities) may not recognize the charge details on their billings, as Bell Canada continues to use the historic community exchanges: Clarkson, Cooksville, Malton, Port Credit, and Streetsville, rather than "Mississauga"; although they are combined as a single Mississauga listing in the phone book. Touch-Tone telephones were first introduced at Malton, the first in Canada, on June 15, 1964. pg 105

On January 1, 2010, Mississauga bought land from the Town of Milton and expanded its border by 400 acres (1.6 km²) to Hwy. 407 affecting 25 residents.

See also: List of historic places in Mississauga

Geography

Main article: Geography of Mississauga

Overview map of Mississauga, including neighbourhoods, land use patterns, and transport corridors.

Mississauga covers 288.42 square kilometres (111.36 sq mi) of land, fronting 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) of shoreline on Lake Ontario.

Mississauga is bounded by Oakville and Milton to the west/southwest, Brampton to the north, Toronto to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south/south-east. Halton Hills borders Mississauga's north-west corner. With the exception of the southeast border with Toronto (Etobicoke Creek), Mississauga shares a land border with all previous mentioned municipalities.

Two major river valleys feed into the lake. The Credit River is by far the longest with the heaviest flow, it divides the western side of Mississauga from the central/eastern portions and enters the lake at the Port Credit harbour. The indented, mostly forested valley was inhabited by first nation peoples long before European exploration of the area. The valley is protected and maintained by the Credit Valley Conservation Authority (CVCA).

Etobicoke Creek forms part of the eastern border of Mississauga with the city of Toronto. North of there it passes through the western limits of Pearson Airport. There have been two aviation accidents, in 1978 and 2005 where aircraft overshot the runaway and slid into the Etobicoke creek banks. In 1954, heavy flooding resulted in some homes along the riverbank being swept into the lake after heavy rains from Hurricane Hazel. Since that storm, houses are no longer constructed along this floodplain. This creek and its tributaries are administered by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).

Most land in Mississauga drains to either of the two main river systems, with the exception of the smaller Mary Fix and Cooksville Creeks which run roughly through the center of Mississauga entering the lake near Port Credit. Some small streams and reservoirs are part of the Sixteen Mile Creek system in the far north-west corner of the city, but these drain toward the lake in neighbouring Milton and Oakville.

The shoreline of former Glacial Lake Iroquois roughly follows the Dundas Street alignment, although it is not noticeable in some places but is more prominent in others, such as the site of the former brickyard (Shoreline Dr. near Mavis Rd.), the ancient shoreline promenteau affords a clear view of downtown Toronto and Lake Ontario on clear days. The land in Mississauga in ranges from a maximum elevation of 214m (699 ft) ASL in the far western corner, near the Hwy. 407/401 junction, to a minimun elevation at the Lake Ontario shore of 76 m (249 ft) ASL.

Apart from the embankments of Credit River valley, it tributaries and the Iroquois shoreline, the only noticeable hills in Mississauga are actually part of the former Britannia Landfill, now a golf course on Terry Fox Drive.

Climate

The climate of Mississauga is officially represented by Pearson International Airport but because of its topography and large surface area conditions can differ depending on location: fog tends to be more common along the lakeshore and in the Credit River Valley at certain times of year, particularly during the spring and autumn.

During snowfalls when temperatures hover close to freezing, northern parts of the city, such as around Derry Road away from warmer Lake Ontario usually get more snow that sticks to the ground because of the lower temperatures. The reverse occurs when a strong storm approaches from the south kicking up lake effect snow, bringing higher snowfall totals to south Mississauga. The city usually experiences 6 months of snow free weather however there is the odd occurrence where snow does fall either in October or May. The Port Credit and Lakeview areas have a micro-climate more affected by the proximity of the open lake, warming winter temperatures as a result but it can be sharply cooler on spring and summer afternoons, this can also be the case in Clarkson, but with much less consistentcy.

Summer thunderstorms are common, most are not severe but can occasionally bring violent winds. The last known tornado to cause significant damage touched down on July 7, 1985, when an F1 rated tornado struck an industrial park in the Meadowvale area (Argentia Road), heavily damaging some buildings and some parked tractor trailers. A relatively strong tornado tore a path across Mississauga (then part of Toronto Township) on June 24, 1923, cutting a swath from present-day Meadowvale to near Cooksville, killing 4 people and causing massive property damage in a time when most of Mississauga was still rural farmland dotted with fruit orchards.

Climate data for Lester B. Pearson International Airport 1981−2010 (North Mississauga)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high humidex	19.0	14.8	29.2	37.9	42.6	45.0	50.3	46.6	48.0	39.1	28.6	23.9	50.3
Record high °C (°F)	17.6 (63.7)	14.9 (58.8)	25.6 (78.1)	31.1 (88.0)	34.4 (93.9)	36.7 (98.1)	37.6 (99.7)	38.3 (100.9)	36.7 (98.1)	31.6 (88.9)	25.0 (77.0)	20.0 (68.0)	38.3 (100.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−1.5 (29.3)	−0.4 (31.3)	4.6 (40.3)	12.2 (54.0)	18.8 (65.8)	24.2 (75.6)	27.1 (80.8)	26.0 (78.8)	21.6 (70.9)	14.3 (57.7)	7.6 (45.7)	1.4 (34.5)	13.0 (55.4)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−5.5 (22.1)	−4.5 (23.9)	−0.1 (31.8)	7.1 (44.8)	13.1 (55.6)	18.6 (65.5)	21.5 (70.7)	20.6 (69.1)	16.2 (61.2)	9.5 (49.1)	3.7 (38.7)	−2.2 (28.0)	8.2 (46.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−9.4 (15.1)	−8.7 (16.3)	−4.5 (23.9)	1.9 (35.4)	7.4 (45.3)	13.0 (55.4)	15.8 (60.4)	15.1 (59.2)	10.8 (51.4)	4.6 (40.3)	−0.2 (31.6)	−5.8 (21.6)	3.3 (37.9)
Record low °C (°F)	−31.3 (−24.3)	−31.1 (−24.0)	−28.9 (−20.0)	−17.2 (1.0)	−5.6 (21.9)	0.6 (33.1)	3.9 (39.0)	1.1 (34.0)	−3.9 (25.0)	−8.3 (17.1)	−18.3 (−0.9)	−31.1 (−24.0)	−31.3 (−24.3)
Record low wind chill	−44.7	−38.9	−36.2	−25.4	−9.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	−8.0	−13.5	−25.4	−38.5	−44.7
Average precipitation mm (inches)	51.8 (2.04)	47.7 (1.88)	49.8 (1.96)	68.5 (2.70)	74.3 (2.93)	71.5 (2.81)	75.7 (2.98)	78.1 (3.07)	74.5 (2.93)	61.1 (2.41)	75.1 (2.96)	57.9 (2.28)	785.9 (30.94)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	25.1 (0.99)	24.3 (0.96)	32.6 (1.28)	63.0 (2.48)	74.3 (2.93)	71.5 (2.81)	75.7 (2.98)	78.1 (3.07)	74.5 (2.93)	60.6 (2.39)	68.0 (2.68)	34.0 (1.34)	681.6 (26.83)
Average snowfall cm (inches)	29.5 (11.6)	24.0 (9.4)	17.7 (7.0)	4.5 (1.8)	0.02 (0.01)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.0 (0.0)	0.4 (0.2)	7.5 (3.0)	24.9 (9.8)	108.5 (42.7)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	15.1	11.6	12.4	12.5	12.5	10.8	10.4	10.2	10.5	12.1	13.2	14.8	145.9
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	5.4	4.6	7.4	11.3	12.5	10.8	10.4	10.2	10.5	12.0	11.0	7.1	113.2
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)	12.1	9.4	6.8	2.4	0.03	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	3.4	10.0	44.4
Average relative humidity (%)	80.8	79.3	78.1	75.4	77.2	79.8	81.9	85.7	87.4	85.2	83.3	81.8	81.3
Mean monthly sunshine hours	79.7	112.2	159.4	204.4	228.2	249.7	294.4	274.5	215.7	163.7	94.2	86.2	2,161.4
Percent possible sunshine	27.6	38.0	43.2	50.8	50.1	54.1	63.0	63.4	57.4	47.8	32.0	30.9	46.5
Source: Environment Canada (all extremes 1937-present)

Demographics

Historical populations

Year	Pop.	±%
1971	156,070	—
1981	315,056	+101.9%
1991	463,388	+47.1%
1996	544,382	+17.5%
2001	612,925	+12.6%
2006	668,549	+9.1%
2011	713,443	+6.7%

Canada 2011 Census		Population	% of Total Population
Ethnicity group Source:	White	324,655	45.8
	South Asian	154,210	21.8
	Chinese	50,120	7.1
	Black	44,775	6.3
	Filipino	39,800	5.6
	Arab	24,870	3.5
	Southeast Asian	15,750	2.2
	Latin American	15,360	2.2
	Multiple visible minority	10,435	1.5
	Other visible minority	9,200	1.3
	West Asian	7,955	1.1
	Korean	6,300	0.9
	Aboriginal	3,200	0.5
	Japanese	2,095	0.3
Total population		708,725	100

Mississauga is a fast-growing and multicultural city. Statistics Canada estimates that Mississauga now has 734,000 people, an increase of 150,000 from the previous decade and the population has roughly doubled in past twenty-five years. Mississauga is now the third most populous city on the Great Lakes; far smaller than Chicago and Toronto, but recently surpassing the cities proper of Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland.

About 44% of the population speaks a language other than English, and 49% of the population are members of a visible minority (non-white or non-aboriginal). 21.29% of the population is under 14 years of age, compared to those of retirement age; 8.51%. The median (middle) age in Mississauga is 35.0.

Christianity is the majority faith of the city. The 2011 census indicated that 59.9% of the population adhere to Christianity, with Catholics constituting 36.9%, while the remaining 23.0% adhere to various Protestant, Orthodox Christian, and other Christian groups. Other practiced faiths were Islam (11.9%), Hinduism (7.0%) Sikhism (3.4%), Buddhism (2.2%), and Judaism (0.3%). Those who claimed no religious affiliation made up 14.9% of the population.

Languages

The 2011 census found that English was spoken as single mother tongue by 47.6% of the population. The next most common languages were Urdu (4.9%), Polish (4.1%), Punjabi (3.2%), Arabic (3.1%), Tagalog (2.8%), and Portuguese (2.5%).

Mother tongue	Population	Percentage
English	338,280	47.6%
French	7,400	1.0%
English and French	1,585	0.2%
English and a non-official language	27,335	3.8%
French and a non-official language	975	0.1%
English, French and a non-official language	845	0.1%
Urdu	34,925	4.9%
Polish	29,065	4.1%
Panjabi (Punjabi)	22,880	3.2%
Arabic	21,990	3.1%
Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino)	19,920	2.8%
Portuguese	17,685	2.5%
Spanish	15,885	2.2%
Chinese, not otherwise specified	15,745	2.2%
Italian	14,210	2.0%
Cantonese	11,925	1.7%
Mandarin	11,335	1.6%
Tamil	10,230	1.4%
Vietnamese	9,835	1.4%
Hindi	9,250	1.3%
Gujarati	8,010	1.1%
Ukrainian	5,955	0.8%

Mother tongue	Population	Percentage
Croatian	5,500	0.8%
Korean	5,300	0.7%
Persian (Farsi)	5,245	0.7%
Russian	4,645	0.7%
Serbian	3,830	0.5%
German	3,705	0.5%
Bengali	3,305	0.5%
Romanian	3,075	0.4%
Greek	2,700	0.4%
Albanian	2,215	0.3%
Malayalam	2,145	0.3%
Hungarian	1,870	0.3%
Telugu	1,515	0.2%
Sinhala (Sinhalese)	1,310	0.2%
Macedonian	1,255	0.2%
Turkish	1,225	0.2%
Bosnian	1,130	0.2%
Bulgarian	1,120	0.2%
Malay	1,090	0.2%
Marathi	1,065	0.1%
Pashto	1,010	0.1%
Sindhi	1,000	0.1%

Economy

Over 60 of the Fortune 500 base their Global or Canadian Head Offices in Mississauga. Some of the strongest industries are pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, electronics and computers, transportation parts and equipment industries.

Citibank Canada, has 2 corporate IT development centres in Mississauga. TD Bank Financial, also has 3 Corporate IT development centres in Mississauga along with Royal Bank of Canada. Microsoft Canada is also located in Mississauga, and Laura Secord Chocolates is headquartered in Mississauga. Hewlett Packard's main Canada offices are in Mississauga. Air Georgian, a regional airline, is headquartered in Mississauga. Air Canada Jazz operates a regional office in Mississauga. Kam Air has its North American office in Mississauga. In addition both Walmart Canada and Target Canada have their Canada head offices in Mississauga.

Arts and culture

Mississauga skyline viewed from Pearson Airport

Mississauga's largest festivities such as Canada Day Celebration, Mississauga Rotary Ribfest, Tree Lighting Ceremony, and New Years' Eve Bash generally occur in Celebration Square. The Canada Day celebration was attended by 130,000 people in 2012, the Ribfest has recorded 120,000 visitors in 2012, and the inaugural New Years' Eve in 2011 has attracted 30,000 spectators.

One of the most anticipated events in the city is Carassauga. This is a festival of cultures that occurs annually during mid-May, it is the second largest cultural festival in Canada. During 2013 there were over 300,000 visits and 4,014 performances that took place. Carassauga attempts to display the different cultures around the world by setting up pavilions for countries around Mississauga. Visitors get free public transportation with their ticket to tour the city and explore the different pavilions. Various countries showcase their culture through food stalls, dance performances and small vendors. The event largely takes place in the Hershey Centre, where an outdoor stage is set up amidst many tiny pavilions. Other venues include the Tomken Twin Arena, the Canadian Coptic Centre and the Frank McKechnie Community Centre.

There are also culture-specific festivals held in Celebration Square, including Fiesta Ng Kalayaan for the Philippines, Viet Summerfest for Vietnam, Muslimfest for the city's Muslim community, and Mosaic Festival, which is the largest South Asian multi-disciplinary arts festival in North America.

The village of Streetsville holds its annual Bread and Honey Festival every first weekend of June at Streetsville Memorial Park to commemorate the founding of the village of Streetsville. The festival has been incorporated in 1974, in response to amalgamation with the city of Mississauga. Activities include the Bread and Honey Race, which raises money for charities and local hospitals. It also has its own annual Canada Day celebrations, which are also held at Streetsville Memorial Park.

Another former town, Port Credit, Ontario holds multiple festivals throughout the year. During the summer, there are street performances on multiple venues scattered throughout the former town during Buskerfest. Also, the town holds a grand parade named "Paint the Town Red" during Canada Day. Finally, during August, the town holds the Mississauga Waterfront Festival, which includes concerts as well as family activities. During September, the Tim Hortons Southside Shuffle is being held to celebrate the town's Blues and Jazz Festival, which includes musical performances from local blues and jazz artists.

The community of Malton, which contains a significant number of Sikhs, holds its annual Khalsa Day parade, marching between Sri Guru Singh Sabha (Malton Gurdwara) and Sikh Spiritual Centre Gahib (Rexdale Gurdwara) in Toronto. This parade is attended by 100,000 people.

Attractions

File:Light hnf 100.jpg

Port Credit Light house

Mississauga Celebration Square

In 2006, with the help of Project for Public Spaces, the city started hosting "My Mississauga" summer festivities at its Civic Square. Mississauga planned over 60 free events to bring more people to the city square. The square was transformed and included a movable stage, a snack bar, extra seating, and sports and gaming facilities (basketball nets, hockey arena, chess and checker boards) including a skate park. Some of the events included Senior's day on Tuesday, Family day on Wednesday, Vintage car Thursdays, with the main events being the Canada Day celebration, Rotary Ribfest, Tree Lighting Ceremony, and Beachfest.

Civic Square has completed its restructuring project using federal stimulus money, which features a permanent stage, a larger ice rink (which also serves as a fountain and wading pool during the summer season), media screens, and a permanent restaurant. It has been officially reopened at June 22, 2011 and has since been renamed as Mississauga Celebration Square. More events have been added such as holding free outdoor live concerts, and live telecast of UEFA European Football Championship. The square also holds weekly programming such as fitness classes, amphitheatre performances and movie nights during the summer, children's activities during spring and fall, and skate parties during the winter. The opening of the square has also allowed the city to hold its first annual New Years' Eve celebration in 2011.

The upper and lower parts of the square used to be separated by a segment of City Centre Drive. However, pedestrian safety issues and commitment to building a vibrant downtown led the city council to permanently close this segment, uniting the upper and lower parts of the square.

In October 2012, the square had attracted its one millionth visitor.

Art Gallery of Mississauga

The Art Gallery of Mississauga (AGM) is a public, not-for-profit art gallery located in the Mississauga Civic Centre right on Celebration Square across from Square One Mall. The Gallery offers free admission and is open seven days a week.

Shopping

Mississauga also boasts one of the largest shopping malls in Canada called Square One Shopping Centre, located at the City Centre. It has 350 retail stores and services and attracts 24 million annual visits. It is operating on most holidays (the exceptions being Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas Day), making it the only shopping mall in the city and one of the few in the Greater Toronto Area that do so. The mall is surrounded by several bars and restaurants, as well as the City Hall, the Central Library, and Playdium.

Another notable shopping mall in Mississauga is Erin Mills Town Centre, the second largest mall in the city. It is located at the western edge of the city, near Eglinton Avenue at Erin Mills Parkway. It is notable by its clock tower at its centre. This mall used to have a movie theatre, a mini-golf course, and a daycare centre, all of which were converted to retail space.

Located at the southeastern corner of the city is the Dixie Outlet Mall, which is Canada's largest enclosed outlet mall. It opened in 1956, making it Mississauga's first shopping mall, even though the city at that time was still known as Toronto Township. Many factory outlets of premium brands are located in this mall. As a supporter of Bullfrog Power, it operates using 100 percent renewable energy. A flea market, the Fantastic Flea Market, is Mississauga's oldest flea market, which opened in 1976.

Both Erin Mills Town Centre and Dixie Outlet Mall are closed for most holidays, except for Civic Holiday.

Sports and recreation

Mississauga's Hershey Centre has been the home of the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League since 2012. The Steelheads replaced the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors who had moved from Toronto in 2007. It was previously home to the Mississauga Icedogs from 1999–2007, before they moved to St. Catharines and became the Niagara IceDogs. The Hershey Centre, the city's main sports venue, was opened in 1999 for the arrival of the Icedogs, and is where the Steelheads currently play. Other hockey teams include the Mississauga Chiefs of the Canadian Women's Hockey League (who play at Iceland Mississauga), the Mississauga Chargers of the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League (who play at Port Credit Arena), and the many teams in the Greater Toronto Hockey League, Mississauga Hockey League, and Mississauga Girls Hockey League that play in the city's 13 arenas. In addition, there is a roller hockey team, the Mississauga Rattlers of the Great Lakes Inline Junior "A" Roller Hockey League.

Starting with the 2013-2014 season, Mississauga is represented in the National Basketball League of Canada, the only Canadian professional basketball league. Oshawa Power has been relocated to the city, and was renamed Mississauga Power. Home games are played at the Hershey Centre.

Mississauga also has teams for box lacrosse (Mississauga Tomahawks of the OLA Junior A Lacrosse League), cricket (Mississauga Ramblers of the Toronto and District Cricket League, Mississauga Titans of the Etobicoke District Cricket League), and Canadian football. The Mississauga Football League (MFL) is a youth football program that is for players aged 7–17, founded in 1971. The city also has other amateur football teams in Ontario leagues: the Mississauga Warriors of the Ontario Varsity Football League and the Mississauga Demons of the Ontario Australian Football League. Mississauga's rugby players are now served by the Mississauga Blues at the youth level though many still play for the more established clubs in neighbouring cities.

Ringette is one of the affiliated youth groups that are allocated ice time by the City of Mississauga (Recreation and Parks Division, Community Services Department) on an allocated priority basis. The Ringette program is administered by the Mississauga Ringette Association.

Recreational clubs include the Mississauga Figure Skating Club, Mississauga Synchronized Swimming Association, North Mississauga Soccer Club, Mississauga Falcons Soccer Club, Mississauga Canoe Club, Mississauga Scrabble Club, Don Rowing Club at Port Credit, International Soccer Club Mississauga, and the Mississauga Aquatic Club. There are over 481 parks and woodlands areas in Mississauga. Mississauga is home to many indoor playgrounds including Playdium, Kids Time Family Fun Center, KidSports indoor playground, and Laser Quest Center. There are over 26 major indoor playgrounds in the city of Mississauga.

Government

Main article: Mississauga City Council

Mississauga City Council consists of the mayor and eleven city councillors, each representing one of the city's eleven wards. The current mayor is Hazel McCallion who has held her current position since 1978.

Mississauga has had only three mayors in its history. Dr. Martin Dobkin was the city's first mayor in 1974. He was then followed by Ron A. Searle. Searle was defeated by then-city councillor and former mayor of Streetsville, Hazel McCallion. McCallion is regarded as a force in provincial politics and often referred to as Hurricane Hazel, comparing her political force to the devastating 1954 storm that struck the Toronto area. McCallion has won or been acclaimed in every mayoral election since 1978, and in recent years has not even campaigned. In October 2010, McCallion won her twelfth term in office with over 76% of the votes. McCallion is the nation's longest serving mayor and was runner-up in World Mayor 2005.

See also: Mississauga Ward 5 by-election, 2011

Wards

• Ward 1
• Ward 2
• Ward 3
• Ward 4
• Ward 5
• Ward 6
• Ward 7
• Ward 8
• Ward 9
• Ward 10
• Ward 11

Provincial electoral districts

• Bramalea—Gore—Malton (provincial electoral district)
• Mississauga—Brampton South (provincial electoral district)
• Mississauga East—Cooksville (provincial electoral district)
• Mississauga—Erindale (provincial electoral district)
• Mississauga South (provincial electoral district)
• Mississauga—Streetsville (provincial electoral district)

Federal electoral districts

• Bramalea—Gore—Malton
• Mississauga—Brampton South
• Mississauga East—Cooksville
• Mississauga—Erindale
• Mississauga South
• Mississauga—Streetsville

Infrastructure

Law enforcement and fire

Peel Regional Police provide policing within the city of Mississauga. In addition, the Ontario Provincial Police have a Port Credit detachment in the city. Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services provide fire fighting services and Peel Regional Paramedic Services provides emergency medical services.

Library

The Mississauga Library System is a municipally owned network of 18 libraries.

Healthcare

The city's two main hospitals are Credit Valley Hospital and Trillium Health Centre (formerly Mississauga Hospital). The health system and the administration for students in Mississauga was the property of the Peel District School Board Health Centre and the health support for citizens in Mississauga was the property of Peel Health Centre. The eastern part of Mississauga was the property of Pearson Health (Greater Toronto Area Health Department).

Transportation

Highways

Highway 403 in Mississauga, showing HOV lanes adjacent to the median.

At 18 lanes wide, Highway 401 in Mississauga near Pearson International Airport is one of the widest and busiest freeways in the world.

Highway 401 (the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, connecting Windsor to Quebec) passes through the city's north end. The eastern part uses the collector/express lane system and feeds into Highway 403, the main freeway in the city, which runs through the City Centre and Erin Mills areas. The Queen Elizabeth Way, the city's first freeway, runs through the southern half of the city. These three freeways each run east-west, with the exception of the 403 from the 401 to Cawthra Road, and from the 407 to QEW. North of the 401, the collector lanes of the 403 become Highway 410, which goes to Brampton. Part of Highway 409 is within the city of Mississauga, and it provides access to Pearson Airport. Two other freeways run along or close to Mississauga's municipal borders. Highway 407 runs metres from the northern city limits in a power transmission corridor and forms the city's boundary with Milton between highways 401 and 403. Highway 427 forms the Toronto-Mississauga boundary in the northeast, and is always within 2 kilometres of the boundary further south, with the exception of the area around Centennial Park.

Rail

See also: Hurontario-Main LRT

Mississauga is on three major railway lines (one each owned by the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Metrolinx). Although Via Rail trains on the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor pass through Mississauga, the city lacks a station; the nearest stations are located in the neighbouring cities of Brampton, Oakville, and Toronto. The only passenger rail service is provided by GO Transit, on the Lakeshore West, Georgetown, and Milton lines. However these lines mainly serve commuters going to and from Toronto's Union Station.

There are plans for the construction of an LRT line along Hurontario Street stretching from Port Credit to the south to Downtown Brampton to the north. The project is currently undergoing environmental assessment and design phases. Light rail transit could possibly be built on some other main thoroughfares, namely Dundas Street and Lakeshore Road, but no definite dates have been set.

Bus

Main article: MiWay

The city's public transit service, MiWay (formerly Mississauga Transit), provides bus service across the city, and connects to the Toronto subway and RT, GO Transit, Oakville Transit, and Brampton Transit. MiWay operates routes for both local service (branded as "MiLocal") and limited-stop service (branded as "MiExpress").

Mississauga Transitway

Main article: Mississauga Transitway

A 12-station busway similar to Ottawa's Transitway is being built along Highway 403 from Winston Churchill Boulevard to Renforth Avenue via the Mississauga City Centre Transit Terminal. with planned connections from Renforth to Kipling Subway Station.

Air

Lester B. Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in the northeastern part of the city is a hub for Air Canada and WestJet and provides flights to regional, national, and international destinations. It is Canada's busiest airport with over 30 million passenger movements annually. It is served by over 75 airlines.

Bicycle

In 2010, the City of Mississauga approved a Cycling Master Plan outlining a strategy to develop over 900 kilometres (560 miles) of on and off-road cycling routes in the city over the next 20 years. Over 1,000 Mississauga citizens and stakeholders contributed their thoughts and ideas to help develop this plan. The plan focuses on fostering cycling as a way of life in the city, building an integrated network of cycling routes and aims to adopt a safety first approach to cycling.

Education

Sheridan College Business education facility in downtown Mississauga

Mississauga is the home to the University of Toronto Mississauga, one of two satellite campuses of the University of Toronto. UTM has an enrollment of approximately 10,000 students. It is growing at a rate of about 1,000 students per year since 2002, following a major expansion.

Sheridan College has announced the construction of a new $46 million facility that will open in Mississauga in 2011. The school will have two main concentrations: business education and programs to accelerate the movement of new Canadians into the workforce. The 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²). campus will be located on an 8.5-acre (34,000 m²) parcel of land in City Centre just north of the Living Arts Centre. The campus is expected to accommodate 1,700 students upon completion of phase one of construction in Fall 2011. Phase two of construction after 2011 is expected to increase capacity by 3,740 students to a combined total of 5,000; it will also include construction of a 10-level municipal parking garage.

Mississauga is served by the Peel District School Board, which operates the secular Anglophone public schools, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, which operates Catholic Anglophone public schools, the Conseil scolaire Viamonde, which operates secular Francophone schools, and the Conseil scolaire de district catholique Centre-Sud, which operates Catholic Francophone schools. Together there are more than 150 schools in this city to fulfill the needs of its large youth population.

Multiple schools in Mississauga also offer specialized programs:

• French immersion schools in multiple locations across the city such as Applewood Heights Secondary School, Clarkson Secondary School and Streetsville Secondary School.
• Extended French Program at St. Thomas More School, Green Glade Senior Public School, Philip Pocock Catholic Secondary School and St. Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School
• Regional Arts Program at Queen Elizabeth Senior Public School, Cawthra Park Secondary School and Iona Catholic Secondary School
• International Business and Technology Program at Allan A. Martin Senior Public School and Gordon Graydon Memorial Secondary School
• International Baccalaureate Program at St. Francis Xavier Secondary School and Glenforest Secondary School.
• Sci Tech Program at Tomken Road Middle School and Port Credit Secondary School.
• Regional Enhanced Program at The Woodlands School, Glenforest Secondary School, and Lorne Park Secondary School.
• Regional Sports Program at Applewood Heights Secondary School

Media

Main article: Media in Peel

Mississauga is primarily served by media based in Toronto, with markets in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that cover most of the news in the GTA. Examples of this being the majority of radio stations transmitting from the nearby CN Tower in Toronto. However, Mississauga also has The Mississauga News, a regional newspaper that is published three days a week in print and daily online, and the Sunday Times, a community newspaper for the South Asian community that is published weekly in print and also available online, as well as MississaugaLife Magazine, a monthly general interest magazine. The city also has one specialty radio station: FM 91.9 CFRE, the campus radio station of the University of Toronto Mississauga.

The following national cable television stations also broadcast from Mississauga. For more area stations, see Toronto television stations.

• Rogers Television, community channel
• The Shopping Channel, broadcasts nationally from Mississauga
• The Weather Network, broadcast nationally from Mississauga 1998-2005
• Bite TV, Canada's first interactive television station.
• RawalTV, Canada's first 24/7 Canadian/South Asian television channel.

Sister cities

• Kariya, Japan.

See also

• Absolute World
• List of people from Mississauga
• List of tallest buildings in Mississauga
• The Mississauga Blob

External links

• City of Mississauga – Official Site