How many of you have lived, lived, live, will live or would live in Mississauga?
My guess would be 1/6th.
Having spent some (a long) time in Mississauga, and sometime in NYC, Vancouver, Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco and soon to be moving to Montreal, I can assure you this: Mississauga (City Centre to be exact) is nothing urban. Port Credit, ya. Oakville Centre, ya. Oshawa, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Parry Sound, Stratford and just about any other city, town and burg in Ontario is more urban than Mississauga.
Why?
Because Mississauga chose the American Dream version of a city - the suburbs. Which did it well, in terms of growth. But we are beginning to realise that suburbs do not a city make.
And until I see life on the streets of MCC,
shops and entertainment and cultural activities facing tree-lined sidewalks,
until I see cafes and community activity,
Mississuaga will always be a suburb.
Case in point - Whenever any Mississaugan says they are going 'Downtown' it invariably means 'Downtown Toronto'. That's not the same for Oakville, or Hamilton...