At 45.6 per cent in 2014 and 41.6 per cent in 2011, the combined voter turnout in the two municipalities has averaged well below provincial rates of 51.3 per cent in 2014 and 48.2 per cent in 2011.

In fact, voters in Mississauga-Brampton South managed the poorest participation rate (41.5 per cent) in the province when Ontario last went to the polls.

Despite the lethargy among the general electorate, the parties have found engaged and effective grassroots membership corps in these communities come campaign time and election night.

In particular, the South Asian community, which now numbers more than 430,000 Peel residents according to most recent census data, has grown to become a fervent political force when determining candidates and local election races.

That clout has not gone unnoticed or untapped by party brass who understand elections are often won and lost at the grassroots level.

A party able to harness those local forces when political winds are blowing in the right direction can propel a campaign to shore in choppy waters.

Observers need look no further than the historic election win former MPP Jagmeet Singh orchestrated in 2011 to give the New Democrats their first ever seat in Bramalea-Gore-Malton and end the Liberal stranglehold in Brampton.

Singh has since used that foothold to make a successful jump to the New Democrat federal leadership.

But his election and re-election victories, in what had traditionally been no man’s land for candidates running under anything but a Liberal or Conservative banner, stand as proof the right candidate and a well-oiled political machinery can dictate campaign fortunes in these crucial suburban battlegrounds.