At a press conference on September 28, 2026, mayoral candidate Dipika Damerla repeated her call for an Independent Auditor General at the City of Mississauga. Damerla was the only Councillor to vote in favour of this in March, 2026. Flanked by other election candidates, she laid out her case, citing other major cities that have an auditor general:
“An Auditor General can follow the money, investigate waste and give taxpayers an independent set of eyes on how their dollars are being spent.”
“If the city staff is looking into complaints that are coming in about the city, there’s some element of the Fox guarding the henhouse”
An Auditor General operates separately from City Staff and Council, preventing conflicts of interest. Damerla also noted that currently Internal Audit checks that policies and procedures were followed, not whether the City is getting value for money.
Ward 7 Council candidate Joel Binda also pointed out that the Auditor General is about making sure Council has better oversight on City Hall. As a former City staff, Binda claimed that the many layers of management in City Hall progressively simplifies reports and presents a “rosy picture” to Council.
As reported by CityNews, other mayoral candidates like Bonnie Crombie and Alvin Tedjo also noted their support for an Independent Auditor General. While current mayor Carolyn Parrish says council has strengthened oversight with new auditors, public access to the fraud hotline and citizen members on the audit committee.
Damerla however, has been the most outspoken over the need for an Independent Auditor General to prevent fraud and deliver value for taxpayers dollars. As property taxes take centre stage for this election, candidates like Damerla are backing up the “tax freeze” talk with plans that may actually save dollars.
Other Council candidates in attendance included Kim Pines (ward 3), Jamie Dookie, Ismail Bawa & Rosemarie Sanchez (ward 5), Gord Elliot (mayoral), Amitabh Srivastava, Joel Binda & George Tavares (ward 7), Michael Carroll & Ananya Majumder (ward 2), & Michael Bastian (ward 6).
Share this article using the buttons above.
