Mississauga East—Cooksville

Mississauga East—Cooksville became one of the most closely watched ridings in the 2025 election after Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie chose it as her seat. The riding had been left without a sitting MPP for much of the term after Kaleed Rasheed, who won re-election as a Progressive Conservative in 2022 and served as Associate Minister of Digital Government, resigned from cabinet and the PC caucus in September 2023 amid the Greenbelt scandal. Rasheed’s departure stemmed from contradictory information he provided to the Integrity Commissioner about a trip to Las Vegas with a developer involved in Greenbelt land removals. He subsequently announced he would not seek re-election, and the PCs nominated Silvia Gualtieri to contest the seat.

Candidates

Silvia Gualtieri (Progressive Conservative) — Gualtieri spent fifteen years as a primary school teacher before entering the family insurance business, where she has worked for nearly four decades. She is the sister of Mississauga—Lakeshore MPP Rudy Cuzzetto.

Bonnie Crombie (Liberal) — Crombie served as mayor of Mississauga from 2014 to 2024, succeeding long-time mayor Hazel McCallion. She was elected Ontario Liberal leader in December 2023. Before municipal politics, she served as the federal Liberal Member of Parliament for Mississauga—Streetsville from 2008 to 2011.

Alex Venuto (NDP) — Venuto is a renters’ rights advocate who served as Deputy Director at the World Urban Pavilion, a collaborative initiative between the Government of Canada and the United Nations focused on sustainable urban development.

The remaining candidates included David Zeni for the Green Party, Kevin Peck for the New Blue Party, Vittoria Trichilo for the Ontario Party, Oleksandra Iakovlieva for the Ontario Moderate Party, and independents Syed Hussain and Mark De Pelham.

Local Issues

The Greenbelt scandal was inextricable from the local contest in Mississauga East—Cooksville. The resignation of the riding’s own MPP over the affair left the riding effectively without active provincial representation for much of the term, and opposition candidates repeatedly pointed to the incident as emblematic of what they characterized as a culture of entitlement in the Ford government.

Construction of the Hazel McCallion Line LRT along Hurontario Street, which runs through the heart of the riding, dominated daily life for businesses and residents alike. Multiple delays pushed the projected completion date years past the original target, and small businesses along the corridor reported revenue losses from prolonged road closures and reduced customer traffic. The annual Taste of Cooksville festival was among the community events negatively affected by the ongoing construction.

Housing affordability and development density were persistent concerns. High-rise projects continued to advance in and around Cooksville, and residents sought assurances that infrastructure, including schools and health services, would be expanded to match the growing population.