2026 Mississauga Election Candidate Profile: Ward 7 - Keshav Mandadi

With the upcoming 2026 Municipal elections happening on Monday, October 26th, Modern Mississauga Media has reached out to all candidates inviting them to answer the same questions so voters can familiarize themselves with them.

With the 2022 Mississauga election having a paltry 21.84% voter turnout, this series is to educate the community and hopefully increase voter turnout for 2026.
Low voter turnout means that the voices of a few make decisions for all.

Candidate’s were also asked to provide at least four images and their answers are unedited.

Click here to read all candidate profiles and check back often as responses will be posted within 72 hours of receipt.

Click here to learn how to vote in the 2026 Mississauga Election.

1.Why are you running for Ward 7 councillor?
After 35 years of a highly successful career in teaching in both national and international contexts such as Saudi Aramco, Sultan Qaboos University , Mcmaster University and finally at University of Toronto, I have decided to give back to the community by way of public service. I am driven by a pure passion and love to serve our community and be their authentic voice. I know the kind of people who are contesting and that is so frustrating for the constituents . I am not running for a career, a job, or money or data collection and I am simply running to serve our communities that need a well educated person with full life experience. 

2. What makes you stand out over other candidates?
I am unique in many ways. Unlike many candidates in the race, I am not looking for a career, a job, or income and data from the elections. I have a clear vision and 100% commitment to serve the community. I am a person who has risen from the grassroots of society traversing a highly successful international journey while remaining well grounded to my roots. I am not driven by the desire to hold an office, rather I am driven by a pure passion to serve people.

3. What are your key campaign priorities?
Bringing back safety, reducing crime rate and ensuring a peaceful living in Mississauga is my top priority. Working for the youth who need employment opportunities and vulnerable seniors who need a dignified aging process by using all  available resources from the city is my second priority. My third priority is to truly represent the constituents by ensuring all our tax money is spent responsibly and in a more transperant manner. 

4. What budget item is the most important for Mississauga?
Our local property tax system is fundamentally unfair, with only $37 of every tax dollar collected remaining under Mississauga's direct control. Due to outdated regional funding formulas, Mississauga taxpayers are forced to cover a staggering 62% of the Peel Regional Police budget, while Brampton covers just 38%. This massive disparity means Mississauga residents pay $722 per capita for regional policing compared to
Brampton's $484, despite having nearly identical populations. As the province transfers more infrastructure costs to municipalities, we cannot allow City Hall to keep blindly raising our taxes to cover the gap. I will fight to restructure these inequitable regional formulas to ensure Mississauga taxpayers are finally treated fairly.

5. What are your three favourite aspects of Mississauga?
Mississauga is a home for a diverse community of people coming from all over the world living peacefully while maintaining their own native identities and I really love being part of such a diverse community. Another aspect of Mississauga that I like is its proximity to the core downtown and one of Canada's major airports. This particular aspect attracts every person to come and live in Mississauga and then finally call it a home. Also Mississauga's parks , lakeshore front and walking trails are a great way of leading a healthy and harmonious lifestyle.  

6. How will you be actively supporting our locally owned businesses if elected?
|Ward 7 can no longer afford to function simply as a bedroom community where 70% of working-age residents must commute elsewhere. Thousands of locals are enduring grueling 90 to 120-minute daily commutes because we lack a strong corporate and medical job market right here at home. We must eliminate outdated municipal red tape to incentivize boutique tech firms and specialized medical labs to set up shop near our major LRT and GO transit hubs. By introducing targeted commercial tax sub-classes, we can transform vacant second-floor retail units into high-density employment centers. Creating local, living-wage jobs ensures our youth can afford to live, work, and build their futures entirely within Mississauga.

The Cooksville Business Improvement Area is home to over 600 businesses, with 75% being independent, family-run mom-and-pop shops. Unfortunately, uncoordinated transit construction and sudden lane closures have slashed their customer foot traffic by up to 40%. This disruption has pushed local street-level commercial vacancies to a record high of 11.2%, threatening the livelihoods of hardworking families. Without a dedicated municipal mitigation fund, these small business owners are forced to absorb the costs of regional infrastructure growth entirely on their own. We need mandatory notice periods for lane closures and direct financial support to protect the economic backbone of Ward 7.

7. What does Mississauga currently excel at?
Mississauga has a lot of youth  who are highly talented and I will focus on bringing lots of business communities closer to the youth and create more employment opportunities . 

8. How would you communicate with residents and what communication standards will you be setting and following?
I will have consistent and continuous communication with my constituents using all available ways of communication channels. I will also hold periodic neighborhood town halls and make it a point to listen to my voters.

9. How do you plan to actively involve and include residents in decisions?
I will create a community volunteer group  and actively work with Business groups and other condominium management groups to meet and share their concerns and ideas.. 

10. Please provide your campaign website.
votemandadi.ca