Mississauga East—Cooksville

Mississauga East—Cooksville covers the eastern portion of Mississauga, stretching from the Etobicoke Creek boundary with Toronto in the east to Confederation Parkway and the Canadian Pacific Railway in the west. The riding runs from Eglinton Avenue East and Highway 403 in the north down to The Queensway in the south. Its neighbourhoods—including Cooksville, Applewood, Rathwood, and portions of the Dundas corridor—straddle both older, walkable commercial districts and post-war suburban subdivisions.

The riding's population was approximately 120,200 in the 2021 census. The ethnic composition is diverse but notably different from neighbouring Mississauga ridings: roughly 48 percent of residents identify as White, 16 percent as South Asian, 7 percent as Filipino, 6 percent as Black, and smaller proportions as Chinese and Arab. Polish, Urdu, Arabic, Tagalog, and Spanish are among the most commonly spoken non-English languages, reflecting successive waves of immigration—first from Europe, then from South and Southeast Asia.

Candidates

Peter Fonseca (Liberal) — Born in Portugal in 1966, Fonseca is a former competitive marathon runner who represented Canada internationally. Before federal politics, he served as a Liberal member of the Ontario Legislature from 2003 to 2011, holding cabinet posts as Minister of Tourism and Minister of Labour under Premier Dalton McGuinty. He was first elected federally in 2015 after defeating the Conservative incumbent, and in the 44th Parliament he was selected as chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

Grace Adamu (Conservative) — Adamu has spent over twenty years in public service across employment, education, advocacy, and community development in Mississauga East—Cooksville. She works as an administrator and has served as president of CUPE Local 2222, advocating for workers' rights and labour issues. She is a mother and longtime resident of the riding.

Tom Takacs (NDP) — Takacs is the NDP candidate for the riding, running on a platform emphasizing pharmacare, affordable housing, and worker protections.

Joseph Westover (PPC) — Westover is the People's Party of Canada candidate, campaigning on the party's national platform of fiscal restraint and reduced government intervention.

About the Riding

Cooksville—the historic core of the riding—dates to the early 19th century when Jacob Cook established a stagecoach stop and tavern at the crossroads of Dundas Street and Hurontario Street. The intersection of these two major arteries remains the riding's commercial and cultural centre. Cooksville joined with other villages of Toronto Township in 1968 to form the Town of Mississauga. Today the Cooksville neighbourhood is undergoing significant intensification, with new condominium and mid-rise developments replacing older commercial plazas along the Hurontario corridor.

The Mississauga Hospital—part of the Trillium Health Partners network—sits within the riding and operates one of the largest emergency departments in Canada. The Living Arts Centre, a performing arts and visual arts facility on the riding's western edge, houses the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra and hosts cultural programming year-round. Applewood and Rathwood, in the eastern half of the riding, are quieter residential communities of single-family homes, townhouses, and low-rise apartments.

Local issues in 2021 centred on pandemic recovery, housing affordability, and infrastructure investment. The Hurontario LRT project—running directly through the riding's main corridor—was a prominent topic, with residents weighing construction disruptions against the long-term promise of improved transit. The riding's significant Polish-Canadian community, one of the largest in the Greater Toronto Area, has shaped local institutions and cultural life for decades, while newer arrivals from the Philippines, South Asia, and the Middle East have added to the area's commercial and social diversity.