Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish makes misleading claims about opposition to Peel police budget 

During Wednesday’s council meeting, Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish made misleading claims about the vote she cast while still on the police board for the force’s widely condemned 23.3 percent budget increase. 

Parrish resigned from the board in November, a move she said was necessary in order to voice her opposition to the budget freely. At Wednesday’s meeting, she asserted that The Pointer falsely reported she abstained from the budget vote in early November, stating to her council colleagues: “I did not abstain.”

This contradicts her previous position to The Pointer following the board vote on the budget. After a discussion on the budget during the board meeting, Parrish stated, “I have no choice but to support this.” Then, when the discussion on the 2025 police budget was over, Board Chair Nando Iannicca called the vote as he looked around the table and said: “All those in favour. No one opposed. That is carried. Thank you”.

After initially reporting what was said on the official video recording of the meeting, before the official minutes had been published on the police board website, Parrish insisted the record be corrected to indicate she had abstained from the vote. 

The video recording of the meeting does not capture any abstention. When the minutes were published they indicated that Parrish specially requested the record show that she abstained from the vote. The only concern she raised was about hiring so many new officers (300) so quickly, which will require a sharp budget increase, because voters might remember the stiff bill to pay for them. “It’s a concern of mine because some of us have to get re-elected,” she said with a smile on her face, suggesting that her only reservation about the budget was due to political considerations.

The Mayor has repeatedly stated publicly she did not raise her hand in support of the budget. This is not apparent from the video of the board meeting; Parrish did not say she was opposed and it does not show that she raised her hand in opposition.

Following publication of The Pointer’s story, the Mayor requested that the board’s voting record indicate she did not raise her hand in support and instead abstained from voting. Abstaining is recorded as a negative vote, but it is a passive form of opposition. It remains unclear why Mayor Parrish, who is now at the centre of the fight against the police budget increase, would not have spoken up during the meeting to share her opposition. She made no remarks during the more than three-hour meeting that suggested she did not support the budget, she asked for no supporting financial information or audits to justify the 23.3 percent and did not ask questions about the lack of details to show exactly how the extra $144 million from taxpayers will be spent or why there was no specific, detailed plan for the staffing additions to justify them—the 300 new officers represent the same number the force has recently brought on over half a decade (concerns have since been raised about Peel police’s capacity to onboard that many new officers in one year). 

When the minutes for the meeting were published reflecting that Parrish had abstained from voting, The Pointer reported it. According to the minutes posted publicly to the Peel Police Services Board website for the November 1st meeting, the record states that, “The Chair called for receipt of the Budget presentation and [Carolyn] Parrish asked that the minutes reflect that she abstained from the vote.”  

A screengrab of the minutes of the Peel Police Services Board meeting in November which indicate Mayor Carolyn Parrish abstained from voting on the budget. She is now claiming she voted in opposition. 

Now, Parrish is claiming that she did not abstain and instead voted against the budget, despite what the video shows.

Parrish’s office later addressed her comments about The Pointer’s reporting made during last week’s public council meeting.

“The request to The Pointer was actually to correct the record from stating she abstained, to her not voting for it,” a spokesperson for Mayor Parrish told The Pointer on Thursday, despite the official record in the minutes clearly stating she requested that it be shown she abstained. The spokesperson said another request has now been sent to the Peel Police Services Board to correct the minutes, showing she voted against, even though this is not what the video shows. 

Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah has presented no detailed reports or analysis to support the 23.3 percent budget request for the year ahead.

(The Pointer files) 

The Region of Peel’s budget process, which was put on hold after Mississauga councillors did not attend the final budget meeting of 2024, will now resume this week with several delegations on the police budget already lined up. The agenda for the January 23 meeting also includes a motion from Parrish requesting that Peel’s police budget be limited to a 14 percent increase for 2025 — the same increase the force saw last year. It is a drastic reduction from the unprecedented 23.3 percent increase being sought by the force. Thursday’s motion warns the proposed increase will add a 4.6 percent increase on the tax base for Mississauga residents “during exceedingly difficult economic times.” 

Through Region of Peel council, a request for a police budget reduction pushed by Mississauga’s members was already sent to the board in December but it was rejected the same day, raising questions about whether the latest attempt is a waste of time or just a way to highlight opposition. Regional Council could force an arbitrator to decide on the police budget, if the board continues its refusal to review the 23.3 percent increase, triggering an external decision.  

The proposed police budget for 2025 has been a significant cause of frustration for Mississauga’s elected officials and advocates who have labelled it as "ludicrous" and “going from a Chevy to a Lexus”, among other criticism. Alok Mukherjee, who served on the Toronto Police board from 2005 to 2015, said he was “absolutely flabbergasted” by the size of the proposed increase, calling the process “an utter failure of governance” and “scandalous” in a recent interview with The Pointer. 

The controversy surrounding the budget demand ultimately led to Parrish’s resignation in the weeks that followed the November board meeting, claiming she could not “wear two hats”; one to protect her city’s taxpayers as their mayor, while sitting on a police board she felt had failed to do the same. At the time, she said the move to step down from the board was, “In light of the required compliance with PPSB decisions, including supporting a budget increase of 21.3 percent this year (23.3 percent including the capital increase).” 

Parrish has not explained why she did not bring up her concerns, or ask to cut the police budget while she was on the board. The Pointer attempted to get an answer to that question in a scheduled interview late last year. When Parrish requested the questions The Pointer planned to ask, she cancelled the interview at the last minute. 

Upon being appointed to the police board, Parrish revealed in a recent interview with journalist Desmond Cole that one of the first things, “They tell you is...don’t...criticize the board, one of the things you don’t do is when you leave the board room, you never talk about what happened in there and one of the other things that you pledge to do is to protect their privacy and the way it operates.” In the same breath, she criticized the absence of line by line presentations showing where exactly spending is being directed and evidence showing large budget increases each year are leading to reductions in crime and other progress. Parrish raised concern around the lack of transparency in the force and the board’s budget process. 

It remains unclear why, as a board member, before she resigned, Parrish did not make these basic governance requests or ask for the type of information board members are required to review in order to protect taxpayers and ensure police departments are being properly run. That is the job of each member of the board.

Mississauga Councillor Matt Mahoney has now been chosen to replace Parrish on the board following an in camera session during Wednesday's meeting at City Hall. The appointment will need to be ratified and approved by regional council. Mahoney, who was also named Deputy Mayor by Parrish, previously served a brief stint on the police board when former mayor Bonnie Crombie stepped down after becoming Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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