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Mississauga is Canada's sixth-largest city, located in the Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario, west of Toronto. A part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is also the largest suburban municipality in North America. It was purchased by the British in 1805 and incorporated as a city in 1974. Mississauga is a sister city of Kariya, Japan.

With seven major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers fast and convenient access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. In addition, most of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, is located in the city. Mississauga has doubled in size in each of the last two decades. Mississauga had the largest population growth in Canada (89,500) between the census years of 1986-1991. Another 80,994 were added between 1991-1996; an increase of 17.5% in the four year period.

Despite its size, Mississauga is thought of by some as a suburb of Toronto and the two cities' urban sprawls are indistinguishably linked. As Toronto has continued to grow economically, Mississauga has followed suit, building predominantly low-density tract housing and high rise condominiums to attract individuals tired of city life. At the same time, businesses saw the benefits of locating to Mississauga - low tax rates, proximity to a number of transportation routes (air, rail, road), proximity to Toronto, and an abundance of land (at least, at the time) - and it soon became desirable to locate there. The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978.

While being in the top ten Canadian cities by population, Mississauga has few cultural institutions for a community its size due to its proximity to Toronto. It is by far the largest city in Canada without a daily newspaper (The Mississauga News is three days a week), and currently doesn't have any television stations or commercial radio stations. Mississauga is beginning to break away from its label as a "bedroom community" to Toronto as 25,000 more workers commute to jobs in Mississauga than leave. Despite this, Mississauga is virtually unknown outside of Ontario.

Mississauga has been trying to create a distinctive image for itself over the past few years. Plans for up to 40 new high-rise residential buildings have been approved recently for the city centre area near the Square One Shopping Centre, and an international architectural design competition was held in 2006 for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city. The winning design, by Chinese architect Yansong Ma of the MAD firm, is a bold, curvaceous tower that was dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe" for its supposed sexiness, and has received plaudits from urban architecture critics such as Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star. The building is currently scheduled to be finished by 2010.

History

At the time of the arrival of the Europeans in the 1600s, both Iroquoian and Algonquian speaking peoples already lived in the Credit River Valley area. One of the First Nations groups the traders found around the Credit River area was called the Mississaugas, a tribe originally from Lake Huron. By 1700 the Mississaugas had driven away the Iroquois.

In 1805, government officials from York, as Toronto was then called, bought 340 km² (84,000 acres) of the Mississauga Tract and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. The various communities settled include: Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale (called Springfield until 1890), Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as the Toronto Township.

Toronto Township was formed on August 2, 1805 when officials from York (what is now Toronto) purchased 84,000 acres (340 km²) of land from the Mississaugas for 1,000 pounds. After the land was surveyed, much of it was given by the Crown in the form of land grants to United Empire Loyalists who emigrated from the US. More than a dozen small communities grew in this area, most of which were located near natural resources, waterways for industry and fishing, and routes leading into York. In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area, the Toronto Township Council was formed to oversee the affairs of the various villages that were unincorporated at that time. The Council's responsibilities included road maintenance, the establishment of a police force, and mail delivery service.

In 1820, a second purchase was made and additional settlements established including: Barbertown, Britannia, Burnhamthorpe, Derry West, Elmbank, Malton, Meadowvale Village, Mount Charles, and Streetsville. This led to the eventual displacement of the Mississaugas and, in 1847, they were relocated to a reserve in the Grand River Valley near present-day Hagersville. Except for small villages, some grist mills and brickworks served by rail lines, most of present-day Mississauga was agricultural land, including fruit growing orchards through much of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Toronto residents would travel to the township to pick fruits and garden vegetables.

Cottages were constructed along Lake Ontario in the 1920's as weekend getaway houses for weary city dwellers.

Malton Airport opened in 1937, which would become Canada's busiest, Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The QEW highway, one of the first controlled access highways in the world opened to Hamilton and later Niagara in 1949. The first prototypical suburban developments occured around the same time, in the area of the Dixie Road and the QEW. Development in general moved north and west from there over time and around established towns. Large scale developments such as in Meadowvale and Erin Mills sprung up in the 1960s and 70s.

With the exception of Port Credit and Streetsville, the township settlements were amalgamated by a somewhat unpopular provincial decree in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. Political will, as well as a belief that a larger city would be a hegemony in Peel County, kept Port Credit and Streetsville as independent island towns encircled by the Town of Mississauga. In 1974, both were annexed by Mississauga when it reincorporated as a city. That year, the sprawling Square One shopping centre opened. On November 10, 1979, a 106 car freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals was derailed at the intersection of Mavis Road and Dundas in Mississauga. The resulting fire was allowed to burn itself out, but a ruptured chlorine tank was the main cause for concern. With the possibility of a deadly cloud of chlorine gas spreading through suburban Mississauga, 218,000 people were evacuated. Within a few days Mississauga was practically a ghost town, later when the mess had been cleared and the danger neutralized residents were allowed to return to their homes. At the time, it was the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history. Due to the speed and efficiency in which it was conducted, many cities later studied and modeled their own emergency plans after Mississauga's. For many years afterwards, the name "Mississauga" was to Canadians associated with a major rail disaster.

North American telephone customers placing calls to Mississauga (and other post 1970 Ontario cities) may not recognize the charge details on their billings, as Bell Canada continues to use the former community names, rather than "Mississauga", to identify exchanges in the city: Clarkson, Cooksville, Malton, Port Credit, Streetsville. These former villages, some incorporated for a long time retain strong community identities.

Law/Government

Mississauga has had only three mayors in its history. Dr. Martin Dobkin was the city's first mayor in 1974. He was then followed by Ron A. Searle. Searle was defeated by then-city councillor and former mayor of Streetsville, Hazel McCallion. McCallion is regarded as a force in provincial politics and often referred to as Hurricane Hazel, comparing her political force to the devastating 1954 storm that struck the Toronto area. McCallion has won or been acclaimed in every mayoral election since 1978, and in recent years has not even campaigned. She was most recently re-elected for her tenth term in November 2003. She will be running for re-election for this year's election. McCallion is the nation's longest serving mayor and was runner-up in World Mayor 2005.

Mississauga's City Council is comprised of the mayor and nine city councillors, each representing one of the city's nine (soon to be eleven) wards.

Mayors

Martin L. Dobkin 1974 - 1976   Ron A. Searle 1976 - 1978   Hazel McCallion 1978 - Present 

Federal/Provincial ridings

Geography

Mississauga covers 288.42 km² of land fronting a 13km shoreline on Lake Ontario. Mississauga is bound by Oakville, Ontario and Milton, Ontario to the west, Brampton, Ontario to the north, Toronto to the east, and Lake Ontario to the south. Halton Hills, Ontario borders Mississauga's north-west corner. With the exception of the southern half of the border with Toronto (Etobicke Creek), Mississauga shares a land border with all previous mentioned municipalities.

Two major river valleys feed into the lake. The Credit River is by far the longest with the heaviest flow, it divides the western side of Mississauga from the central/eastern portions and enters the lake at the Port Credit harbour. This indented, mostly forested valley was inhabited by native peoples long before European exploration of the area. The valley is protected and maintained by the Credit Valley Conservation Authourity (CVCA).

Etobicoke Creek forms part of the eastern border of Misssissauga with the city of Toronto. North of there is passes through Pearson Airport, where there have been two infamous aviation accidents where aircraft slid into its banks. This valley experienced some heavy flooding with some homes along its edge being swept into the lake as a result of heavy rains from Hurricane Hazel. This creek and its tributaries are administered by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).

Most land in Mississauga drains to either of the two main river systems, with the expection of the smaller Mary Fix Creek which runs roughly through the center of Mississauga entering the lake just east of Port Credit. Some small streams and resevoirs are part of the Sixteen Mile Creek system in the far north-west corner of the city.

The post-glacial Iroquois Shoreline roughly follows the Dundas Street alignment, although it is not noticeable in some places and in others the shoreline affords a view of downtown Toronto. The land in Mississauga in general slopes gradually downward from almost 190m ASL in some northern spots to lake level (76m ASL), a 110m difference over an averaged 15km distance.

Economy

Mississauga is home to more than 18,000 companies ranging from corporate head offices and industrial branch operations to corner store retail businesses, and including 50 of Canada's Fortune 500. The Mississauga business community is facing certain issues at this time. With international competition, political and economic changes and rapidly advancing technology, companies require more adaptable and more highly skilled workers. Employers recognize the need to retrain the existing labour force and incorporate those who would like to work but have been limited so far due to low skill levels and other barriers.

Mississauga has provided an ideal environment for small businesses. Many developers have built small multiple units which provide efficient and affordable accommodations for small companies. The economic stability of Mississauga is enhanced by thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. A large percentage of these employers have fewer than 50 employees.

An employment survey conducted in 1994 indicated that the greatest number of firms and of employees were active in the manufacturing/warehouse sectors followed by retail and wholesale sectors. There will be a shift in the employment base away from traditional manufacturing and towards: light assembly, warehouse distribution, and general services. The strong industries in Mississauga are: pharmaceuticals, electronics, computer, chemical and transportation parts and equipment industries. Heavy industry includes the Petro-Canada refinery and St. Lawrence Cement.

Mississauga demographics indicate that the labour market is experiencing some fairly dramatic changes. It is predicted that in the next ten years, 70% of the new Canadian work force will consist of women, racial minorities, and people with disabilities. It is also evident that the Mississauga labour force is aging as fewer young people are available to take entry level jobs and many present employees are struggling to adapt to the changing economic climate.

Primary Employers

Demographics

In 2006, Mississauga had a population of 695,000, up over 150,000 from a decade earlier. With just over 40% of the city's population having a language other than English as their mother tongue, the city is relatively diverse, perhaps owing to its proximity to Toronto. More than 30% of Mississauga's population speaks more than one language.

Because the city is so close to Toronto, it contains many people of different cultures. Many of them live in the comfortable housing areas in the city outside the hustle and bustle of Toronto.

Ethnic make-up

From Statistics Canada 2001 Census Data:

Religious make-up

First Language

From Statistics Canada 1996 Census Data:
  • 59% English
  • 4.4% Polish
  • 4.2% Chinese
  • 3.6% Italian
  • 3.6% Punjabi
  • 3.2% Portuguese
  • 1.9% Tagalog (Filipino)
  • 1.7% Spanish
  • 1.4% Arabic
  • 1.3% Croatian
  • 1.3% French
  • 1% Urdu
  • 10.6% Other
  • 36.9% Multiple language responses

Sports and recreation

Media

The Mississauga News is the city's primary English language newspaper.

The following television stations broadcast directly out of Mississauga. For more area stations, visit Toronto television stations.

Attractions

Shopping

Cultural attractions

Historical attractions

Outdoor and recreational attractions

There are over 481 parks and woodlands areas in Mississauga, including:
  • Applewood Trail
  • Burnhamthorpe Trail
  • Cooksville Creek Trail
  • Culham Trail
  • Erindale Park Credit River
  • Etobicoke Creek Trail
  • The Hershey Centre, the city's major sporting centre
  • Indian Road Trail
  • Lake Wabukayne Trail
  • Levi Creek Trail
  • Ligar Meadow Brook Trail
  • Malton Loop
  • Milgrove Trail
  • Mississauga Meadow Trail
  • Mississauga Valley Trail
  • Oakridge Trail
  • Playdium
  • Rattray Marsh Conservation Area (Mississauga)
  • Sheridan Creek Trail
  • Waterfront Trail
  • Winston Churchill Trail

Transportation

Major highways

Rail

Mississauga is on three major railway lines (two owned by Canadian National Railway and one owned by Canadian Pacific Railway), which lead into and around Toronto. The GO Transit commuter rail service provides service into Toronto's Union Station along the Lakeshore West (GO Transit), Georgetown (GO Transit), and Milton (GO Transit) lines. VIA Rail service in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor is provided on both CN lines, although there are no stops in Mississauga.

Bus

Air

Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in northeastern Mississauga (Malton) is a hub for Air Canada and provides flights to all regional, national, and international destinations.

Public services

Education

Mississauga is the home to the University of Toronto at Mississauga (UTM/Erindale College), one of three intercity campuses of the University of Toronto. UTM has an enrollment of approximately 8,000 students. It is growing rapidly, at a rate of about 1,000 students per year since 2002.

Mississauga is served by the Peel District School Board and the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.

Hospitals

Library

Police

Fire


Notable people from or residing in Mississauga

See also

References

External links



Mississauga, Ontario

Mississauga | Mississauga (Ontario) | Mississauga | Mississauga (Ontario) | Mississauga | Mississauga, Ontario | Mississauga

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Mississauga, Ontario".

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