‘We have no idea what's going on’: Lisgar residents call on council to fast-track pumping station after 20 years of flooding
Fighting back tears, Mississauga resident Susanne Thistle pleaded with city council to deliver the last of four promised pumping stations by 2026, saying her community can no longer endure the devastation and financial toll of repeated flooding.
On September 10, Thistle and fellow Ward 10 resident Glenn Voakes stood before councillors and staff on behalf of the Lisgar Residents’ Association, aggrieved, seeking accountability after “decades” of watching their homes and neighbourhood flood.
“The repeated flooding of Lisgar has caused serious financial hardship and deep anxiety in the community,” she said, her voice trembling.
“The floods are becoming increasingly widespread as hundreds of homes are flooded, encompassing Lisgar from east to west, north to south…We have, to the best of our ability and information, estimated that Lisgar homeowners are out of pocket, approximately $125 million, and the true amount is likely much more. It is bewildering after all these years to continue to experience flooding.”
“Transportation and Works Department have informed us there is no backup contingency plan should the pump trucks have to evacuate which is exactly what happened July 16, 2024 at the Pintail Circle site, causing homes to be flooded. Every year the floods are becoming increasingly widespread as hundreds of homes are flooded, encompassing Lisgar from east to west north to south. Lisgar has suffered repeated flooding, some as much as five, six plus floods,” Susanne Thistle with the Lisgar Residents’ Association said.
(City of Mississauga)
Lisgar, a neighbourhood built on former marshland in Mississauga’s Ward 10, has endured repeated flooding since 2008.
It was in March of 2015 when Lisgar residents were first told the flooding in their neighbourhood, which damaged more than 180 homes between 2008 and 2013, was caused primarily by water building up in the bedding of utility trenches that house storm, sanitary and home sewer systems.
A 2014 report by Amec Environment & Infrastructure Inc. included a Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) water gauge reading near Toronto Pearson Airport that recorded 138 millimetres of rainfall in about 10 hours on July 8, 2013. Between 1981 and 2010, climate data from the Toronto Pearson weather station showed the area sees approximately 681 millimetres of rain annually, meaning the 2013 storm dumped about a fifth of the city’s yearly rainfall in a single evening.
(Brian Sarty/YouTube)
As part of the Lisgar District Basement Water Infiltration Investigation for the City, Amec Foster Wheeler Consultant Ron Scheckenberger explained that some water leakage from storm sewers is normal, but Lisgar’s naturally slow-draining soil allows that water to accumulate, eventually seeping into the weeping tiles around home foundations. During certain storm conditions, the water has nowhere to drain, causing it to back up into basements.
The City, under Bonnie Crombie’s mayoralship at the time, denied residents’ requests for compensation, arguing there is no evidence of municipal negligence, leaving homeowners to shoulder the costs of repeated flooding.
“The Lisgar District is mainly made up of single-family homes, which were largely built over a 25-year period starting in the early 1980s,” the city’s Lisgar District Basement Water Infiltration Investigation noted. In response to the 2008 flood, the engineering consulting firm of AMEC Environment & Infrastructure (now known as Amec Foster Wheeler Environmental & Infrastructure) was retained in late 2011 to undertake an engineering study to determine the cause(s) of basement water infiltration and recommend corrective measures.
In February 2012, Lisgar residents Francesco and Katiana Panza launched a $200-million class action lawsuit against the City, Region of Peel, Halton Regional Conservation Authority, and Ontario’s Environment Ministry over years of flooding that had damaged homes and affected property values.
By June, it was found City staff had failed to notify councillors about the lawsuit.
In 2015, the lawsuit was dropped.
“The final report investigating the cause or causes of the basement water infiltration in some dwellings in the Lisgar area was submitted to the City with recommendations to address the concern,” Ward 10 councillor Sue McFadden wrote on her website.
“Based on the thoroughness of the consultant’s report demonstrating an absence of evidence of any negligence on the part of the City, the class action lawsuit filed against the City has been withdrawn. The $200 million suit was filed a few years ago by a local resident on behalf of all property owners in the Lisgar District but was never certified by a judge.”
But dark clouds were far from over for Mississauga.
The summer of 2024 arrived, and with it two “once-in-a-century” storms. On July 16, 106 millimetres of rain fell in just a few hours, and on August 17 and 18, up to 170 millimetres drenched parts of Mississauga and the Greater Toronto Area.
After the two 100-year storms last year, areas around Dixie Road, Dundas Street, Cooksville Creek, Streetsville, Malton, Lisgar, and parts of highways 401, 403, 410, and the airport were severely impacted, with widespread road closures and traffic disruptions. In response, Mississauga allocated $33.7 million in 2024 for stormwater improvements along Cooksville and Etobicoke Creeks, and erosion control. Since 2016, over $231.5 million has been invested in stormwater infrastructure, with a 10-year plan for an additional $340 million in upgrades and maintenance to enhance storm resilience. But experts have warned with climate change, even this funding will fall short.
(Lisgar Residents’ Association, City of Mississauga/Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services)
Basements were flooded, streets were closed, and many drivers were stuck on highways. In Ward 10 alone, covering communities from Churchill Meadows up through Meadowvale, about 500 homes were flooded.
In response, Mississauga Council approved a city-wide Flood Mitigation Action Plan in September 2024, outlining targeted initiatives across multiple wards.
Since the 2013 floods, progress has been underway in Lisgar. In a 2021 Lisgar District Pumping Station Class Environmental Assessment, “a long-list of 14 different potential pumping station locations” were identified, out of which six locations were shortlisted in three areas.
A long list of 14 potential pumping station locations were identified in the Lisgar neighbourhood in 2021, including three north of Derry Road, three near Trelawny Circle, five between Doug Leavens and Osprey Boulevard, and three near Osprey Marsh. Six were shortlisted including: Black Walnut Trail at Smoke Tree Road Parkette; Black Walnut Trail at Scotch Pine Gate Parkette; Lisgar Creek at Doug Leavens Boulevard; Lisgar Creek at Pintail Circle; Lisgar Creek at Lisgar Green Park; and Osprey Marsh at Prairie Circle.
In 2017, the City received $1 million in federal funding and $500,000 in provincial funding as part of the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund program, which was put towards the design and construction of the first pumping station in Lisgar, which became operational in March 2021 at the parkette near Black Walnut Trail and Cactus Gate.
The second station along the creek at Smoke Tree became operational in June, and a third pumping station is expected to open sometime in 2026.
Construction on the fourth pumping station, located along the tributary at Osprey Boulevard, was scheduled to begin in 2025 and be operational by 2026. The City had said the station would not be delivered until 2027 due to “procurement delays”.
“Almost 20 years since the first reported floods in 2008, we do not accept the new plan on delivery of pumping stations,” the letter by Lisgar residents to the City declared.
“The delayed installation of the full pumping infrastructure continues to jeopardize the safety, financial stability and well-being of hundreds of Lisgar families.”
On September 12, in a statement shared with The Pointer, the City confirmed that $5.6 million has been approved by council for design and construction for the fourth pumping station.
“This last pumping station is currently under design with construction expected to start in 2026,” the statement noted.
“A sump pump is a mechanical pump used to remove water captured by the weeping tiles around the basement foundations of homes that has been collected in a sump pit (basin) in the basement. Water from the sump pit would either be pumped to the ground surface or underground into a shallow storm sewer,” a 2015 city report explained.
During the public question period, Lisgar resident Glenn Voakes expressed concerns about the project's lack of transparency and questioned the City about the delay, asking why the pumping stations, funded by the stormwater charge, were taking so long to complete.
"Our residents have no idea what's going on," Voakes said. "Could this be a project management issue? Is the money just sitting there, but we're unable to spend it because of competing priorities? If that's not the case, then what is causing such a delay?”
He further asked, "Has each pumping station had a different contractor, or have the same contractors been used throughout?"
Mississauga director of infrastructure planning and engineering services Emma Calvert responded to Voakes' questions by clarifying that the delay was not related to cash flow.
“We have the money in our budget, and we've been budgeting all for these pumping stations annually through our capital plan,” Calvert explained.
“We have been proceeding with each project as an individual project. So, from a timing perspective, we've been going through the design tender and construction on an individual project basis, which is why the schedule is what it is.”
She said that the City has used the same contractor for Pumping Stations 1 and 3, but a different contractor was hired for Pumping Station 2.
In a statement shared with The Pointer, City officials said the contracts were pursued and awarded in accordance with the City’s Procurement By-Law. “Open market bids have returned the contractors of record for the first three pumping stations. A pre-qualification for the fourth pumping station is currently in-market.”
“Never in my life in business have I ever bought four, five, six, seven, of something and not done single source,” Voakes said as he asked why the City had not used a single-source tender.
Mississauga Residents' Association Network (MIRANET) member Charlene Haupt told The Pointer after the council meeting that Voakes' questions about procurement were not actually answered by the City staffer.
“I was left wondering why. They should have been able to justify their process with a rational explanation,” Haupt said.
In their petition, residents also urged Mayor Carolyn Parrish to wield her strong mayor powers to fast-track the construction of the fourth pumping station.
“While we acknowledge that Mayor Parrish has been mayor for only 15 months, and the responsibility to deliver pumping stations in a timely manner falls on the responsibility of the previous mayor; we come to you to request that all the pumping stations be operational in 2026,” Thistle said.
Residents also raised concerns that ongoing development along Ninth Line and new basement apartments will put even more pressure on stormwater systems already stretched beyond capacity.
“It has been determined by City staff that the water flooding Lisgar homes is stormwater. Existing sewers cannot handle the volume of water. Therefore, the strong mayor powers may be invoked as it will support infrastructure for housing,” the letter notes.
Temporary pump trucks, used to relieve flooding during major storms, have at times failed, including during the July 2024 flood.
But City Solicitor and Commissioner of Legislative Services Graham Walsh cautioned that the powers may not apply in this case. He explained that strong mayor authority largely covers budgetary matters — the pumping stations are already fully funded — or advancing provincial priorities, which are vaguely defined.
“The only other potential strong mayor power that could apply would be the mayor's power to give broad direction to staff to advance provincial priorities. What constitutes a provincial priority is somewhat nebulous. It isn't fully defined,” Walsh said.
“It's not a situation where staff is not advancing this. This is just simply a matter of the process by which in the time that it will take to advance this.”
Beyond municipal action, residents are lobbying Ottawa for relief. On July 30, Thistle, as LRA president, sent a letter to Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne urging the reintroduction of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). A written response was received from Champagne’s office, but no funding commitments were made.
Ward 10 Councillor Sue McFadden welcomed the response but said it needs to be matched with real dollars.
“It's great to put stuff in writing to promise, but I would like to see some action on that,” she said. “I think it's appropriate that the federal government steps up, as we know, without help from our federal and provincial counterparts, we can't do it all…This means nothing to me unless something goes along with it.”
She also asked that a letter be sent from the mayor and city manager to local MP Rechie Valdez, requesting emergency federal funding.
“The reaction of councillors was underwhelming; Sue McFadden encouraging Susanne and the Lisgar residents to seek emergency funding from the federal government was a notable low point - classic passing of the buck,” Haupt noted.
“The pumping stations are fully funded, and there should be no need for emergency funding if the planning process is working properly — that is, don't build on flood-prone lands, flood plains, swamps that have been drained to make way for construction.”
Across Canada, the financial toll of flooding is staggering. Since 2013, insured damages have averaged $850 million every year, and about one in ten households now face flood risks so severe they can’t buy coverage at all. For families in places like Lisgar, that leaves them effectively stranded — unable to repair, sell, or insure their homes.
First announced by the Trudeau government in 2019, the NFIP was pitched as a way to pool public funds and lower premiums for high-risk homeowners. But the rollout has stalled repeatedly. Ottawa set aside $31.7 million in the 2023 budget to begin developing the program, with consultations wrapping up just as the 2025 election was called.
On the campaign trail earlier this year, the Liberals renewed their pledge: $450 million over five years, with the program scheduled to launch in April 2026. Yet Public Safety Canada has stopped short of confirming that date, leaving communities waiting.
A February 2025 analysis by the Canadian Climate Institute warned that without major change, flood damages could climb 40 per cent by 2030. Up to 540,000 of the homes planned under the national housing strategy could sit in flood-hazard zones. In the most optimistic scenario, annual losses rise by $340 million; in the worst, they balloon to $2 billion.
Adding to the challenge, home insurance premiums across Ontario are soaring, raising further concerns about affordability and transparency. Between 2014 and 2024, rates rose an average of 84 percent, with a 12.7 percent increase in 2024 alone and further hikes in early 2025. Advocates like Investors for Paris Compliance (I4PC) say insurers quietly raise premiums while failing to disclose how climate change impacts flooding, wildfires, and extreme weather, leaving residents unaware of their true risks.
Coverage is shrinking, particularly in flood-prone areas like Lisgar, forcing homeowners to pay more for less protection or rely on government disaster assistance.
That’s not all. In October 2024, McFadden cautioned that contractors were taking advantage of flood-stricken homeowners in the city’s northwest, inflating prices for essential repairs such as mould removal.
During the recent council meeting, Haupt, speaking for Lisgar as a Ward 8 resident, asked how Mississauga monitors groundwater, ensures pumping station capacity, and tracks flood-prone areas amid high-density development that reduces permeable surfaces. She also raised concerns about the urban heat island effect from new high-rise and mid-rise buildings and its impact on soil absorption and vegetation during droughts.
Some questions were addressed, others remained unanswered.
“These are very detailed questions. I'm just wondering if there's an opportunity, and I'm not suggesting that it's not done publicly, but I see staff kind of being put on the spot. Is there an opportunity for you to send these questions in to staff?” Deputy Mayor and Councillor Matt Mahoney suggested.
With several issues still pending, council recommended that they be further discussed at the Stormwater Advisory Committee on September 29.
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