Mississauga is Canada's sixth-largest city, located in the Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario, west of Toronto. A part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the largest lower-tier municipality in Ontario, and is also the largest suburban municipality in North America. It was purchased by the British in 1805 and incorporated as a city in 1974. Mississauga is a sister city of Kariya, Japan.

With seven major highways passing through the city, Mississauga offers fast and convenient access to major destinations in Canada and the United States. In addition, most of Toronto Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest, is located in the city. Mississauga has doubled in size in each of the last two decades. Mississauga had the largest population growth in Canada (89,500) between the census years of 1986-1991. Another 80,994 were added between 1991-1996; an increase of 17.5% in the four year period.

Despite its size, Mississauga is thought of by some as a suburb of Toronto and the two cities' urban sprawls are indistinguishably linked. As Toronto has continued to grow economically, Mississauga has followed suit, building predominantly low-density tract housing and high rise condominiums to attract individuals tired of city life. At the same time, businesses saw the benefits of locating to Mississauga - low tax rates, proximity to a number of transportation routes (air, rail, road), proximity to Toronto, and an abundance of land (at least, at the time) - and it soon became desirable to locate there. The city is debt-free and has not borrowed money since 1978.

While being in the top ten Canadian cities by population, Mississauga has few cultural institutions for a community its size due to its proximity to Toronto. It is by far the largest city in Canada without a daily newspaper (The Mississauga News is three days a week), and currently doesn't have any television stations or commercial radio stations. Mississauga is beginning to break away from its label as a "bedroom community" to Toronto as 25,000 more workers commute to jobs in Mississauga than leave. Despite this, Mississauga is virtually unknown outside of Ontario.

Mississauga has been trying to create a distinctive image for itself over the past few years. Plans for up to 40 new high-rise residential buildings have been approved recently for the city centre area near the Square One Shopping Centre, and an international architectural design competition was held in 2006 for a 50 storey condominium tower that is intended to be a landmark for the city. The winning design, by Chinese architect Yansong Ma of the MAD firm, is a bold, curvaceous tower that was dubbed the "Marilyn Monroe" for its supposed sexiness, and has received plaudits from urban architecture critics such as Christopher Hume of the Toronto Star. The building is currently scheduled to be finished by 2010.