Climate adaptation — who decides what Mississauga protects
The tension: Mississauga's Climate Change Action Plan has two goals. The emissions goal has a number and a date; the goal to increase the City's capacity to withstand and respond to climate events has neither, though the plan reports on it each year against suggested indicators. A Stormwater Advisory Committee, whose citizen members the Council elected on 26 October 2026 will appoint, advises Council on stormwater and flooding; the committee recommends and Council decides. The riverine flood lines that decide which properties lie in a flood hazard area are drawn by the conservation authorities, which are redrawing them and which merge into two new regional authorities on 1 February 2027 or a later date set by regulation. The City's own Official Plan shows flood hazards for illustration only.
The City's climate plan is mostly discussed as an emissions plan. It has a second goal: to make Mississauga better able to withstand and recover from flooding, ice storms and heat. The plan reports on that goal every year but sets no level to reach and no date, and the City's 2023 Stormwater Master Plan states its actions the same way.
Three things decide how the City adapts. A citizen advisory committee advises Council on stormwater and flooding, and the next Council appoints its citizen members. The conservation authorities draw the riverine flood lines, and they are redrawing them as they merge under a new provincial structure. And flood protection is funded project by project, ward by ward.
None of this is a failure. These are rules about who decides, and they are rarely discussed at election time. The questions below ask how a candidate would set them.
Resolution Options
Questions you can ask
To: allMississauga's Climate Change Action Plan has two goals. The emissions goal has a number and a date: 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030, 80 per cent by 2050. The goal to increase the City's capacity to withstand climate events has neither: the plan reports on it each year against suggested indicators but sets no level to reach. The 2023 Stormwater Master Plan states its actions without a measurable target or a fixed review date, and the climate plan is being updated. Will you commit to Council adopting a measurable resilience target, with a date, by a recorded vote?
To: allMississauga Official Plan 2051 shows flood hazards for illustration only and leaves the actual line to the conservation authorities, which are redrawing it: Conservation Halton plans to present draft updated mapping for eastern Sixteen Mile Creek, which includes part of Mississauga, in 2027. Will you commit to Council receiving updated flood mapping for Mississauga at an open meeting before the City relies on it, and to the City publishing which neighbourhoods it changes?
To: allThe Stormwater Advisory Committee advises Council on stormwater and flood mitigation; it recommends, and Council decides. Will you commit to Council publishing its reason on the record whenever it departs from a committee recommendation, and to asking the committee for advice before a stormwater decision is made rather than after it?
To: allCitizen members of the Stormwater Advisory Committee serve a term concurrent with Council's and hold office until their successors are appointed, so the Council elected on 26 October appoints the next ones. For the 2025-2026 term its terms of reference allow five to eight citizen members, and five sat in June 2026. Will you commit to filling the citizen seats to the top of whatever range the next Council sets, and to advertising them openly enough that a resident who has never dealt with the City could find and apply for one?
To: mayoralFlood protection is funded project by project: the Dixie-Dundas flood works drew $48.6 million from the federal and provincial governments alongside the City's own budget. The City publishes its planned stormwater projects ward by ward and says they are prioritized on citywide needs and asset management strategies. Will you commit to the City publishing, before the next capital budget, how flood-protection projects are ranked across wards and the criteria behind that ranking?
Candidates on record
The full story
The goal with no number
The City’s Climate Change Action Plan has two main goals: “Reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels” and “Increase the City’s resilience and capacity to withstand and respond to current and future climate events.” The first has a figure and a date. The second has neither. The plan itself commits that “The City will report annually on progress” (p. 58), and lists suggested indicators for its Resilient and Green Infrastructure pathway, among them the “Cost to the City of responding to extreme weather events” (p. 59). It reports against those indicators but sets no level for any of them to reach, and no date. The City is updating the plan. The plan’s emissions goal, and the province’s 2025 repeal of its own climate duties, are on their own page.
The City endorsed its Stormwater Master Plan, Build Beautiful, on June 13, 2023. It commits to “Incorporate climate change resiliency and decision-making into infrastructure planning, including applying future rainfall scenarios” (p. 66). Its timelines are bands, “Short (1-3 yrs) Medium (3-10 yrs) Long (10-25 yrs) Ongoing” (p. 27), and it “will be reviewed on a regular basis to confirm the progress of these initiatives” (p. 73). It sets no numeric resilience target for Mississauga; the resilience targets it cites are other cities’ examples, such as Vancouver’s.
Who advises Council
The Stormwater Advisory Committee has terms of reference approved by Council Resolution 0074-2025 on 2 April 2025. They describe it as “an advisory committee of Council established to offer advice and recommendations” on stormwater management and flood mitigation, and as a “liaison between the community and Council.” It meets bi-monthly. For the 2025-2026 term it may have up to 11 voting members: two to three members of Council and five to eight citizen members. Conservation authorities and Peel Region’s Public Works may be asked to attend, as non-voting agency representatives. Five citizen members sat at its June 8, 2026 meeting.
Under the City’s citizen appointments policy, “Citizen members serve a term concurrent with that of Council and retain office until their successors are appointed.” So the Council elected on 26 October 2026 appoints the next ones. Minutes are posted for three of its 2026 meetings, in February, April and June; on 2026-10-09 the minutes for September 1 were not posted. Its agenda for September 1 gives the date of its next meeting as December 1, 2026, after the election.
Who draws the flood line
At the committee’s February 17, 2026 meeting, a City manager spoke to “the Conservation Authorities undertaking flood plain analysis using advanced modeling technology to update flood lines”, noting City staff are on the committee doing the work. In April the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority presented to the committee on flood plain mapping. Conservation Halton is updating flood hazard mapping for eastern Sixteen Mile Creek, a study area that “covers parts of Halton Hills, Milton, Mississauga, and Oakville”; “A second public engagement session to present draft, updated flood hazard mapping will be held in 2027.”
The City’s new Official Plan leaves the line to them. Schedule 2 of Mississauga Official Plan 2051 shows natural hazards, and its note reads: “The limits of the Natural Hazards shown on this Schedule are for illustrative purposes only. The appropriate Conservation Authority should be consulted to determine their actual location.”
These are riverine flood lines, along creeks and rivers. Overland flooding of streets and basements is a separate matter: at the April meeting, committee members asked about “Responsibility for mapping urban overland flooding within municipalities” and “Whether the City intends to undertake comprehensive overland flood mapping.”
Those authorities are changing. Bill 97 merges the three with Mississauga members into two new regional authorities on 1 February 2027 or a later date set by regulation, and a provincially appointed agency may direct them on matters including strategic planning. That is set out, with its sources, on the conservation authorities page.
Paying for protection
Flood protection is funded project by project. The Dixie-Dundas flood mitigation project drew $24.2 million from the federal Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund and $24.4 million from the provincial Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program, combined with the City’s own approved project budget; construction is estimated from early 2027 to late 2028. The City publishes its planned road and stormwater projects ward by ward, as in the 2026 Ward 10 capital plan, which says stormwater projects “are prioritized based on citywide needs and asset management strategies”. The ranking itself, and the weight each criterion carries, are not set out there. Two ward pages follow particular flood projects: Dixie-Dundas and Lisgar.
What this page does not say
It does not say the City has neglected adaptation: the plan has a resilience pathway, the committee meets, and $48.6 million from two other governments is committed to one flood project. It makes no claim about how well the committee works, and no claim about any member of it. It does not say the City’s flood mapping is wrong or out of date. It does not draw anything from the number of citizen seats filled.
Fact-check
Mississauga's Climate Change Action Plan has two main goals: an emissions goal of 40% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 against 1990 levels, and a goal to 'Increase the City's resilience and capacity to withstand and respond to current and future climate events', which carries no figure or date; the plan commits that 'The City will report annually on progress' (p. 58) against suggested indicators, including for its Resilient and Green Infrastructure pathway (p. 59), but sets no level for them to reach. The plan is being updated. The 2023 Stormwater Master Plan, Build Beautiful, endorsed by the City on June 13, 2023, states its resilience action without a measurable target; its timelines are bands and it is to be 'reviewed on a regular basis'. The Stormwater Advisory Committee's terms of reference, approved by Council Resolution 0074-2025 on 2 April 2025, make it an advisory committee of Council with, for the 2025-2026 term, 2-3 members of Council and 5-8 citizen members; five citizen members sat on 8 June 2026; citizen members serve a term concurrent with Council's and retain office until successors are appointed (Policy 02-01-01); its next meeting is 1 December 2026. On 17 February 2026 a City manager told the committee the conservation authorities were updating flood lines with City staff on the committee doing the work; Conservation Halton's East Sixteen Mile Creek study covers part of Mississauga and will present draft updated mapping in 2027. Mississauga Official Plan 2051 Schedule 2 shows natural hazards 'for illustrative purposes only' and defers their location to the conservation authority. The Dixie-Dundas flood project drew $24.2 million (federal CHIF) and $24.4 million (provincial MHIP), combined with the City's approved project budget; construction is estimated early 2027 to late 2028. The City's ward capital plans say stormwater projects 'are prioritized based on citywide needs and asset management strategies'. The flood lines the conservation authorities draw are riverine; overland flood mapping is a separate question raised at the committee in April 2026.