Mississauga

Mississauga at a Glance

• Population: 756,000 (2016), Greater Toronto Area: 6.42 million (2016)
• Neighbourhoods: Applewood, Central Erin Mills, Churchill Meadows, Credit Valley, Clarkson/Lorne Park, Cooksville, East Credit, Erin Mills, Erindale, Fairview, Hurontario, Lakeview, Lisgar, Malton, Meadowvale, Meadowvale Village, Mineola, Mississauga Valleys, Port Credit, Rathwood, Sheridan, Streetsville
• Mayor: Bonnie Crombie
• Major airports: Toronto Pearson International Airport
• Universities: 
  • University of Toronto Mississauga,
  • Sheridan College
• Notable residents: 
• Nicknames: “Sauga”

Overview of Mississauga

Mississauga is a fast-growing and increasingly multicultural city. It neighbours Toronto on Lake Ontario. Mississauga is now the third most populous city on the Great Lakes; far smaller than Chicago and Toronto, but surpassing the cities proper of Detroit, Milwaukee, and Cleveland.

About 52% of the population of Mississauga speaks a language other than English and 52.4% of the population are members of a visible minority (non-white or non-aboriginal). 18% 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 years old.

Arts & Culture

In the centre of Mississauga, Celebration Square hosts multicultural festivals and has a skating rink in winter. Mississauga has a vibrant arts community, promoted by the Mississauga Arts Council, which holds an annual awards ceremony, called the MARTYs, to celebrate the city’s artists.

There are 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, Indian festival Diwali and Mosaic Festival, which is the largest South Asian multi-disciplinary arts festival in North America.

Mississauga’s largest festivities such as Canada Day Celebration, Mississauga Rotary Ribfest, Tree Lighting Ceremony, and New Year’s Eve Bash generally occur in Celebration Square. 

One of the most anticipated events in the city is Carassauga, a festival of cultures that occurs annually during mid-May. It is the second largest cultural festival in Canada. Carassauga attempts to display the different cultures around the world by setting up pavilions for countries around Mississauga. Countries showcase their culture through food stalls, dance performances and small vendors. 

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 the Living Arts Centre and Square One Shopping Centre. AGM is sponsored by the City of Mississauga, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council. 

Economy

Over 60 of the Fortune 500 companies have their global or Canadian head offices in Mississauga. Some of the strongest industries are pharmaceuticals, banking and finance, electronics and computers, aerospace, transportation parts and equipment industries.

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 and over $1 billion in annual retail sales.

TD Bank also has Corporate IT development centres in the city along with Royal Bank of Canada. Laura Secord Chocolates is headquartered in the city, and Hewlett Packard’s main Canada offices are also in Mississauga. 

Regional airline Jazz operates a regional office in Mississauga and Kam Air has its North American office in Mississauga. Mississauga is also an aircraft development hub with Canadian headquarters of Aerospace companies such as Magellan Aerospace and Honeywell Aerospace. 

In addition Walmart Canada, Kellogg’s Canada and Panasonic Canada have their national head offices in the city.

Transport

Mississauga is on three major railway lines (one each owned by the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and Metrolinx). 

Commuter rail service is provided by GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx, on the Lakeshore West, Kitchener, and Milton lines. 

The city’s public transit service, MiWay (formerly Mississauga Transit), provides bus service along more than 90 routes across the city, and connects to commuter rail with GO Transit as well as with Brampton Transit, Oakville Transit, and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). 

A 12-station busway similar to Ottawa’s Transitway was built parallel to Highway 403 from Winston Churchill Boulevard to Renforth Avenue, via the Mississauga City Centre Transit Terminal

Intercity buses operated by GO Transit stop at GO Train stations throughout the city and the Square One Bus Terminal.

Most of Pearson International Airport is located within Mississauga. Pearson is the largest and busiest airport in Canada. In 2015, it handled 41,036,847 passengers and 443,958 aircraft movements., tallying more international passengers than any airport in North America other than John F. Kennedy International Airport. It is served by over 75 airlines having over 180 destinations.

Green Spaces in Mississauga

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. 

Creditview Wetland is Mississauga’s most unique natural heritage feature. It is located north of Eglinton Avenue West, east of Creditview Road, 5 km west of City Hall. The Creditview Wetland is a naturally occurring wetland system. 

The Creditview Wetland contains some of the last remaining peat land in the Region of Peel. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, scientists from the Royal Ontario Museum have studied peat and sediment cores from the wetland and have estimated the age of the basin as 11,700 years. Arctic plant fossils, dating from the period just after glacial retreat, have been found in the peat.

Neighbourhoods of Mississauga

Home of the “The Marilyn Monroe Towers” (Absolute World condos) and quaint neighbourhoods like Streetsville and Port Credit, Mississauga actually has a larger population than Vancouver and Quebec City.

On the lakefront, Port Credit has shops, a working lighthouse and a marina with a grounded freighter. Multi-use trails wind through the city’s parks and woodlands. 

In total, there are 22 neighbourhoods in Mississauga:

1. Applewood
2. Central Erin Mills
3. Churchill Meadows
4. Credit Valley
5. Clarkson/Lorne Park
6. Cooksville
7. East Credit
8. Erin Mills
9. Erindale
10. Fairview
11. Hurontario
12. Lakeview
13. Lisgar
14. Malton
15. Meadowvale
16. Meadowvale Village
17. Mineola
18. Mississauga Valleys
19. Port Credit
20. Rathwood
21. Sheridan
22. Streetsville

With the addition of M City Condos, the skyline of Mississauga is expanding. The site proposes 10 towers total, all with complementary design styles to make an impactful skyline. Nestled in Mary Fix Creek Gateway, this city-within-a-city combines green open spaces with a tight-knit neighbourhood feel, all in downtown Mississauga. With Square One, Sheridan College, banks and libraries a walk away, commercial and public amenities are well within reach.

Real Estate in Mississauga

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) released its February GTA market statistics, revealing the average price of a home in Mississauga hit $887,218. This marks an incredible 13.4%, or $104,803, increase from the $782,415 average just 30 days before.

The real estate market in Mississauga saw impressive numbers across the board last month, with the condo market experiencing the biggest average increases.

Apartment-style condominiums were up 22.8% from $445,854 in February 2019 to $547,524 the same month this year. The average year-over-year price for townhouse-style condos also steadily increased from $581,468 to $682,680 — a difference of 17.4%.

The average cost for a detached home in Mississauga grew 16.1%, from $1,062,477 in February 2019 to $1,233,623 in February 2020, while semi-detached units increased to $840,414, up 9.2% from $769,318 at this time last year.