Mississauga council will consider adding another councillor and ward.

Council passed Ward 9 Coun. Pat Saito’s motion at the Jan. 29 general meeting asking staff to return with scenarios which would add a 12th councillor and ward to the city. The move, if passed, would also involve adjusting Mississauga’s existing ward boundaries.

Ward 5 Coun. Carolyn Parrish raised the idea of a 12th councillor first at the meeting and said it could help Mississauga rebalance votes at Peel regional council. She also expressed support for asking city staff to produce more ward boundary scenarios that align with federal and provincial ridings.

Saito said that with several new developments coming in the city, it would be better to hold off on changing ward boundaries. She added that a proposal for further tinkering would be a “waste of time.”

“It doesn't need to be done for the next election, but I think that if staff have lots of time on their hands and want to play around with a 12-ward scenario, so that (way) council can see, at least, what it would look like and take a look at some options for that,” Saito said.

Saito’s motion passed six to four, with Mayor Bonnie Crombie, and councillors Dipika Damerla, Karen Ras and Stephen Dasko voting against it. Councillors Parrish, Chris Fonseca, George Carlson, John Kovac, and Matt Mahoney joined Saito in supporting the motion.

Damerla said that she couldn’t support an additional councillor because of the potential cost to taxpayers.

"I'm not sure adding a ward is something that the public would embrace," she said. "I really don't see much merit to that."

Mississauga’s chief planner Andrew Whittemore told council that the report, with additional scenarios, will take at least six weeks for staff to prepare.

On Dec. 11, 2019, council recommended that city staff prepare possible scenarios for addressing the rebalancing of population distribution across Mississauga’s 11 existing wards. According to a staff report, seven of the 11 wards are unbalanced, meaning they have 10 per cent more or less than the city average of 66,000 residents.