Polls closed at 8 PM on Monday, October 26, and the GTA has its marching orders for the next four years. Two mayors kept their jobs, one city changed its mayor, and Toronto council gets seven new faces. Brampton and Mississauga both posted higher turnout than in 2022. This is what changed, what did not, and what it means for Caribbean neighbourhoods across the GTA.
The wins
Toronto stayed with Olivia Chow. The incumbent mayor won her first full term with 532,201 votes (54.16 percent) to former councillor Brad Bradford’s 404,013 (41.11 percent), a margin of about 13 points with all 1,431 polls reporting. After winning the 2023 byelection, her campaign pledges include a 2027 TTC fare freeze with free rides after 10 paid trips in a week, and shovels in 2027 for 10,000 new rental homes.
Brampton stayed with Patrick Brown. The incumbent mayor won a third term with 65,893 votes (54.90 percent), far ahead of runner-up Wesley Jackson at 23,236 (19.36 percent). Brown campaigned on “Keep Building Brampton’s Future”: a second hospital with a 24-hour emergency department and the Hazel McCallion LRT extension downtown.
Mississauga changed its mayor. Alvin Tedjo, the first-term Ward 2 councillor, won with 74,479 votes, ahead of incumbent mayor Carolyn Parrish at 51,853 and former mayor Bonnie Crombie at 43,191. Tedjo campaigned on a two-year property tax freeze. His win ends Parrish’s time at the top of city hall after her 2024 byelection win.
The losses
Toronto council lost three incumbents. Frances Nunziata, council’s longest-serving member, lost Ward 5 York South-Weston to Chiara Padovani, finishing third with 7,441 votes. Chris Moise lost Ward 13 Toronto Centre to Curran Stikuts. Jamaal Myers lost Ward 23 Scarborough North to former MP Shaun Chen. Bradford also left council, giving up his Ward 19 seat to run for mayor; former MP Nate Erskine-Smith won it.
In Mississauga, the losses sat at the top: Parrish lost her re-election bid and Crombie’s comeback bid fell short, both to the same challenger, while every re-election-seeking councillor kept their seat.
In Brampton, outgoing city councillor Gurpreet Singh Dhillon ran for regional councillor in Wards 9 and 10 and finished second to Sukhman Sangha by 286 votes, 7,120 to 7,406. He leaves council.
The shocks
Mississauga is the shock of the night. Tedjo, a councillor for one ward, beat two people who had each held the mayor’s office, by more than 22,000 votes over the incumbent. A challenger has not dislodged a sitting Mississauga mayor since Hazel McCallion defeated Ron Searle in 1978.
Toronto’s shock is the size of the win: the final polls had Chow ahead by about 2.6 points, and she won by about 13. The race that looked close for weeks was not close on the night.
Brampton’s result was not a shock: Brown’s margin was about 35.5 points, the widest of the three mayoral races.
The surprises
Turnout is the quiet surprise. Brampton’s official summary posts 123,133 ballots from 428,012 eligible voters, 28.77 percent, up from 24.56 percent in 2022. Mississauga posted 191,166 ballots, 33.9 percent, up from 21.84 percent in 2022. Toronto’s results pages post votes but no turnout percentage; the signal there is advance voting: 222,550 voters, up from 129,745 in 2023.
Toronto council’s new faces are another surprise. Seven new councillors arrive, including former MPs Erskine-Smith and Chen, and former councillor Mike Layton returning in Ward 11. Dianne Saxe, who left Ward 11 to run in Ward 14, finished third there behind winner Sara Ehrhardt. In Mississauga, the only new council faces are Tom Ellard in Ward 2 and Lucas Alves in Ward 7, the seats Tedjo and Damerla vacated to run for mayor.
The disappointments
Read plainly, the disappointment is who still did not vote. In Brampton and Mississauga, where the cities posted turnout, most eligible voters stayed home: 71.23 percent in Brampton and 66.1 percent in Mississauga.
Every result here is unofficial until each city clerk certifies it. The counts are complete, but certification is the step that makes them final.
One honest limit: these results do not show a single Caribbean community preference. Caribbean voters live in wards across all three cities and voted in every direction, like everyone else.
What it means for Caribbean neighbourhoods
Two wards with real Caribbean weight changed hands in Toronto: Ward 5 York South-Weston (Weston, Mount Dennis) goes from Nunziata to Padovani, and Ward 23 Scarborough North (Malvern) goes from Myers to Chen. Scarborough Southwest, Centre, Agincourt, Guildwood and Rouge Park all returned their incumbents, as did Etobicoke North, Humber River-Black Creek and York Centre.
In Mississauga, Ward 5 (Malton) stayed with incumbent Natalie Hart, while Ward 7 changed hands to Alves and Ward 2 to Ellard. In Brampton, Wards 9 and 10 have a new regional councillor in Sangha and a new city councillor in Harkirat Singh, and Wards 7 and 8 have a new city councillor in Taran Chahal.
What the new councils mean in practice is the same list this site followed all month: housing, transit, and funding for recreation centres, libraries and community programs. For the organizations doing the groundwork regardless of who holds office, see the site’s community directory of Caribbean organizations in Toronto. No winner has promised a Caribbean-specific program, and this article attributes no promise beyond the pledges noted above.
What happens next
The new term of council begins November 15, 2026, the date Brampton’s key dates page lists as the start of the new term. Neither Toronto’s nor Brampton’s key dates pages post an inaugural meeting date as checked, so watch each city’s council calendar for the first sitting. Results stay unofficial until each city clerk certifies them. Full official results live at the cities’ own postings: toronto.ca/Elections, brampton.ca/bramptonvotes and mississauga.ca/elections. CanadianYardie’s election coverage continues from here, starting with the last-day-to-vote guide and the Brampton Caribbean ballot guide.
Your questions, answered
Who won the mayoral races in Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga?
Olivia Chow won re-election in Toronto (54.16 percent), Patrick Brown won a third term in Brampton (54.90 percent), and Alvin Tedjo won in Mississauga (74,479 votes), beating incumbent Carolyn Parrish and former mayor Bonnie Crombie.
When do the new councils take office?
The new term begins November 15, 2026. Inaugural meeting dates are not posted on the Toronto or Brampton key dates pages checked; check each city’s council calendar for the first sitting.
Where can I see the full official results?
At the cities’ own results pages: toronto.ca/Elections, brampton.ca/bramptonvotes and mississauga.ca/elections. Results are unofficial until each city clerk certifies them.
Sources: City of Toronto election results (electionresults.toronto.ca), City of Brampton election results, City of Mississauga election results (mississaugavotes.ca data files and city news release), all as posted after polls closed October 26, 2026. Results are unofficial until certified by each city clerk. Turnout comparisons use each city’s published figures for the previous election.
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