2026 Mississauga Election Candidate Profile: Ward 7 - Gerald Adad

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?
You ever feel like the universe is just pulling you in a certain direction? You see signs, you get a feeling in your gut, you just get a vibe?

Between my many years serving residents directly in neighbourhoods when I led the Safe City Mississauga’s Neighbourhood Watch program, meeting businesses to help with their crime prevention, and working alongside the many non-profits in Cooksville that want to make the ward a better place, my decision to run for Ward 7 Councillor felt like…”coming home”.

This was a neighbourhood I grew up in as a former Goetz Gator, so getting the chance to work in crime prevention and serve this community always felt natural and like a true honour. 

Now I want to continue serving the community, not as its top politician, but as a public servant, as I always have. 

I truly believe Ward 7 and Cooksville are the heart of Mississauga, and the true core of where Mississauga can go in the next 10, 20, 50 years. I hope to take my experience working in community safety and public service to help pave the way for this future!

Photo credit: Tim Mosher.

2. What makes you stand out over other candidates?
I have actually been doing this work in public service and community safety alongside Peel Police, City staff, the non-profit sector, and even our current Councillors for years all the way up until I submitted my name for nomination on July 6th. For nearly 10 years, I have had the privilege to support our entire city in crime prevention from home break-ins through my leadership of the Neighbourhood Watch program with Safe City Mississauga, to hate crime prevention with Peel Police and the Countering Hate Committee. Through this work, I’ve worked alongside youth, seniors, and communities of all walks of life and it’s allowed me to really understand the diverse needs of our city.

I have a proven track record of strong relationships and collaborative work with the people and organizations that want to continue to bolster our city, and I know as City Councillor I can continue to amplify and accelerate that work. 

I have a particular vision for Ward 7 based on what’s realistic, what I can bring to the table, and what I know I have the expertise to accomplish. It may not be 100% in line with what you want, but I’m not going to lie to you about what’s feasible and what I can accomplish.

But I also want to add my perspective and philosophy. I want us to spend less time on the politics of grievance and musing on what’s wrong and why every other councillor or candidate is awful, but more time on what actually makes this city happy and livable. This is the philosophy that I will bring to City Hall, and I hope that it is a more refreshing and less cynical way of politics that residents will find more welcoming…and fun!

And one last note on fun - I have also trained in several martial arts! I’m an assistant coach in Pekiti Tirsia  Kali (a Filipino weapons-based art), and I’ve trained in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Jeet Kune Do (the martial art created by Bruce Lee). So no one can say I can’t “fight” for my community!

3. What are your key campaign priorities?
My key campaign priorities are building a safe, strong, happy and affordable Ward 7. All sound like great philosophical concepts, so let me explain what they look like in practice.

We can improve public safety by creating a Ward 7 Community Safety Collaborative. This Collaborative would use data and existing technology to diagnose why certain public safety issues occur in which spaces and why. This will then determine which stakeholders we need to deploy (ex. Police, Neighbourhood Watches, bylaw and property standards enforcement, non-profits, etc), who is responsible for what, and then allow us to evaluate.

We can build a strong Ward 7 by working with the local BIA and small businesses to incentivize local spending by local residents in local businesses. Building upon the safety of Ward 7 will also improve the strength and attractiveness for business in Ward 7. This will all be especially important once the LRT is completed.

We can create a happier Ward 7 by advocating for the use of property tax dollars on things that actually affect your day-to-day life, whether it’s your ability to enjoy a walk on the street with proper shade and rest options; speed bumps that help make your street more accessible to other forms of active transportation; or arts and community building projects that make you proud to live in Ward 7.  

We can improve affordability by advocating for new ways to generate revenue at the City level, advocating for equitable taxation of Regional costs, and understanding opportunities to improve the efficiency of service delivery.

These priorities are applicable to all of Ward 7. But I want voters to understand that these priorities will also allow us to explore ways we can transform the Cooksville core into the true heart of Mississauga and a true destination that will encourage LRT use upon completion. We can’t hit the Undo button on the LRT. By making sure Cooksville can become a destination that welcomes the world, we can make sure the LRT is properly used and does not become a white elephant project that will do more harm than good.

4. What budget item is the most important for Mississauga?
The Police budget. Proper review of this budget is key to our city’s safety, and also our best opportunity for savings that will not result in reduction of services. My volunteers will also tell you I keep tripping on sidewalks while canvassing. So maybe sidewalk maintenance too.

5. What are your three favourite aspects of Mississauga?

1. The food scene, and by extension, the accessibility of cultures within arm’s reach. You can travel the world in a five minute walk around 5 and 10!

2. The diversity of neighbourhoods - I love that any given summer’s day can take me through a quiet and relaxing walk through Mississauga Valley, good eats from around the world in Cooksville, and then a cold beer and live music by the water in Port Credit.

3. The fact that the Cineplex at Square One, here in Mississauga, is one of the few true 70mm IMAX theatres IN THE WORLD. People actually come from out of town to watch Christopher Nolan movies here. Though I wish they would save some good seats for me so I can finally watch the Odyssey.

6. How will you be actively supporting our locally owned businesses if elected?
I intend on actively supporting locally owned businesses by encouraging local buying through pilot programs and by building community networks. As Ward 7 Councillor, I intend on piloting an incentive program in consultation with Ward 7’s local businesses to boost and encourage local consumption. Between the trade wars and the ongoing affordability crisis, I aim for these programs to help build the local economy by encouraging local spending, from local residents, and local businesses.

But before we even get to that, we need to make the neighbourhood safe for business. That’s why the Ward 7 Community Safety Collaborative is so important. I would also leverage my expertise in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and support a property standards strategy that would help encourage landlords to also create safer and more welcoming environments for tenants to run their businesses in.

The last element to this would be the transformation of Cooksville into a destination that welcomes the world! Not only will I continue to work with the local BIA to amplify the amazing food scene in Cooksville, but I will work with our friends in the Mississauga arts sector to build an arts and entertainment scene. Imagine getting to hop off the LRT to attend a pop-up art market in what used to be an underutilized space, and then grabbing some delicious momos at the Newin Centre. Why bother going to Toronto?

7. What does Mississauga currently excel at?
Mississauga does a lot of things well. BUT. We have the opportunity to find something that we can actually EXCEL at, and that’s part of why I want to run - so that we can build something that we can truly be known for. Personally, I’d like for that to be a diverse and eclectic arts and food scene in Cooksville, but I’m biased. 

8. How would you communicate with residents and what communication standards will you be setting and following?
On top of all the standard newsletters and social media/email blasts, I will have a rule that doorknocking and engagement will not just be for election season. I intend to regularly visit and communicate with residents, getting their thoughts on upcoming motions or big ticket items like the budget; or to see if I can help with even the day-to-day things throughout my term like road maintenance or community center hours. We’ll be working proactively, but I encourage residents  to come bother me and point me in the right direction.

9. How do you plan to actively involve and include residents in decisions?
Further to the off-campaign season doorknocking, I will commit to regular townhalls and coffee meet-ups on the topics that interest Ward 7 the most, and also regarding any big ticket motions or decisions (ex. budgets)  that need to be made in consultation with the community. 

I think these are important tools that I am committed to using in order to improve civic engagement. But if we do them, then Ward 7 has to commit to me that they won’t leave me waiting in these townhalls and coffee shops all alone!

I am also committed to finding more neighbourhood champions - think of your Neighbourhood Watch Team Leads, your local street’s “Mayor”,  the guy or gal that everyone knows and knows everyone - and working with them to reach their communities: Bu tmore importantly, allow their communities to reach me and City Hall.  Councils come and go, but these champions are the lifers. They’re the ones that create high trust communities. And by building them up, we can truly build a strong and resilient Ward 7.

I will commit to further building advocacy power by establishing more resident associations in Ward 7, especially in the Cooksville core among the highrise resident community. 

10. Please provide your campaign website. 
geraldadad.com/