How the City Works

Levels of government

There are three levels of government in Canada: federal, provincial and municipal (like the City of Mississauga). Some cities in Canada also have a regional government. In Mississauga we have a regional level of government which is the Region of Peel. The City of Mississauga and the cities of Brampton and Caledon are under the jurisdiction of the Region of Peel.

The Region of Peel provides police, ambulance, public health, garbage and recycling, social services and water services to the three cities. The municipal government of the City of Mississauga is responsible for managing parks, libraries, local transportation, property taxes, fire services city road maintenance among other services.

For more details, take a look at the levels of government in Canada infographic.

City Council - Your voice in the municipal government

The City of Mississauga is governed by a City Council made up of the Mayor, who is the head of Council and 11 Councillors. Council members are elected every four years by the citizens of Mississauga. For the purpose of governance, the City is divided into 11 wards, and each Councillor serves a ward. The City of Mississauga ward map can help you find the ward you live in and who your Councillor is.

The current members of City Council are:

What City Council does

City Council represents and serves the people of Mississauga. In doing so, Council follows rules set by the Provincial Government called the Municipal Act . Your ward Councillor represents you in Council and you can contact them with City related problems, ideas or feedback. Councillors also make key decisions related to various aspects of the City , pass by-laws (local laws for Mississauga), create policies, approve budgets and provide programs and services to make citizen's lives better.

How Council makes decisions

City Council receives requests and recommendations for new by-laws, projects, services or programs from members of Council and from reports submitted by advisory committees, City staff or citizens who speak at Council meetings during a deputation or public question period . When a request is received, Council will discuss it and make a decision or ask for more information.

Committees

The Mayor and City Councillors are members of various committees that are formed to get feedback from the public on important issues. Recommendations made by committees are presented to City Council to discuss and take a decision.

Some committees have citizens as members. Citizen members on committees have the same four-year term as the Mayor and Councillors. If you live in Mississauga you can apply to join an advisory committee as a citizen member and get involved with the City.

Recommendations

City Council discusses and debates recommendations and reports received from the committees. Council may also ask City staff to provide more information and submit a report. At the end of this process, Council will make a recommendation.

By-laws and policies

Once Council has made a decision about a request, they finalize their decision as either a by-law or a corporate policy.

By-laws are laws that apply only in Mississauga and govern things like animal control, litter, noise, parking, trees and much more. We keep a list of current by-laws on Mississauga.ca.

School boards

In Canada, education is managed by the province and partly paid for through revenue from property taxes. There are two publicly funded school boards in the Region of Peel:

You can register your child to attend school in either of these school boards. Students in both boards are taught the Ontario curriculum. However students in the Catholic board also attend required classes about the Catholic religion. When you register with one of these boards, your child will go to the school assigned to your neighbourhood by the board.

There are also a number of for-profit private schools that you can pay to send your child to.