Mississauga is a city southwesten Ontario, Canada. It is Toronto's largest suburb and Canada's sixth largest city.

Get in

---

Mississauga is readily accessible by car, by rail, and by air.

Toronto's Pearson International Airport , Canada's busiest airport, is located within the borders of Mississauga. It is the gateway to Canada, and is served by most major airlines in the world. It takes no more than 30 minutes to drive from the airport to Mississauga's city centre. Mississauga Transit's Route #7 links the airport with Square One shopping centre.

Mississauga is served by 4 major expressways:

The 401 links Mississauga with Windsor, Detroit and beyond in the West direction, and Kingston, Ottawa, and Quebec in the East direction.

The 403 links to Hamilton and Niagara Falls in the west, and connects with the 401 and 410. The 410 leads to Brampton in the North.

The QEW links Mississauga with the Gardiner Expressway and downtown Toronto in the east, and connects with the 403 in the west.

The 407 is an East-West route running parallel with the 401.

Mississauga can also be reached from most areas in the Greater Toronto Area with GO Transit, which provides train service during rush hour, and bus service in off peak hours.

Get around

---

Mississauga Transit

Toronto Transit Commision (TTC) (services some of the east end of the city near the Toronto boundary)

Oakville Transit (services some of the west end of the city near the Oakville boundary)

Blue & White Taxi

Golden City Taxi

See

---

Port Credit An older, historic village at the centre of Mississauga's Lake Ontario shore features many intimate small restaurants, cafes and bars. Annual events include the Waterfront Festival and Jazz/Bluefest. Nice Marina and walking paths at the Credit River entrance and along the lakeshore.

Do

---

Playdium A large video arcade that also has wall climbing and go-karting. Some nights you are able to pay a flat fee for three hours of arcade gaming.

Buy

---

Square One , one of the largest malls in the world

Old Credit Brewery, 6 Queen St. W. Tel:905-2719888, Open 10-19, Excellent small brewery that sells an ale and a pilsner.

Eat

---

Axia Restaurant and Bar, 5045 Plantation Place (Along Eglinton Ave W near Erin Mills), tel: 905-6082942. . In the community of Erin Mills. A nicely designed ambient place with fully authentic Asian food being produced from separate kitchens. Specializes in Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Korean cuisine. Mains $15-20, appetizers $5-10. Fully liquor licensed with unique flavoured Korean soju and alchoholic bubble tea. A must for any Asian food lover and enough variety to last countless visits.

Hooks Grille, 26 Lakeshore Road East, tel: 905-2787665. Overlooking Port Credit harbour. Small intimate place with great cajun food. Mains $15-20, tapas $5-10. The tapas are big, order at most two. Beer lovers will want to try the local Old Credit ale on draft.

Nirvana, the Flavors of India 35 Brunnel Road, tel: +1905 5015500. Slightly upscale Indian restaurant in the north end of Mississauga close to Brampton. It is a friendly place with great food. Mains CND 13.

Mississauga (pronounced: ˌmɪsɪˈsɑgə ), incorporated in 1974, is a city of over 704,000 residents (last exact number given in 2006 census at 668,549)
Canada's sixth-most populous municipality, located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Ontario. Mississauga has almost doubled in population in each of the last two decades. It 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%. From the 1996-2001 censuses, Mississauga gained a further 68,543 residents; an increase of 12.6%. From 2001 to 2006 the population increased 9.1%.

Mississauga has been trying to create a distinctive image for itself over the past few years. An international architectural design competition was held in 2006 for a 50-story condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city named Absolute World. The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978. With seven major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers 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. Residents of the city are called Mississaugans.

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.

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 and in 1806 the area was opened for settlement. Toronto township is not to be confused with the present-day City of Toronto, as no part of the former township boundaries overlap with the Toronto of today. The various communities settled include: Cawthra, Clarkson, Cooksville, Dixie, Erindale (called Springfield until 1890), Lorne Park, Port Credit, Sheridan, and Summerville. This region would become known as Toronto Township. Part of northeast Mississauga, including the Airport lands and Malton were part of Gore Township.

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 thirteen colonies during and after the American Revolution, some first went to New Brunswick before arriving in Mississauga.
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 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. In 1873, in light of the continued growth seen in this area much as a result of the many railway lines passing through the township which spurred on industry, 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.
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 1920s as weekend getaway houses for weary city dwellers.

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

The Queen Elizabeth Way highway, one of the first controlled access highways in the world opened to Hamilton and later Niagara in 1939. The first prototypical suburban developments occurred 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. The town name was chosen by plebiscite over "Sheridan". 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, which has since expanded many times its original size.

On November 10, 1979, a 106-car freight train derailed while carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals just north of 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.

In 2006, an international architectural design competition was held for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city.
The winning design, named Absolute World, 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.

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 recently re-elected for her eleventh term in November 2006. 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 11 city councillors, each representing one of the city's eleven wards.

Mayors