Carolyn Parrish (born Karolina Janozeski; October 3, 1946) is a Canadian politician who has been the seventh and current mayor of Mississauga since June 24, 2024. Parrish previously served as a member of Parliament (MP), representing ridings in Mississauga from 1993 to 2006. She sat as a Liberal until 2004. She was a Mississauga city councillor from 2006 to 2010 and later from 2014 to 2024 when she resigned to contest the 2024 by-election for mayor.

Parrish was born as Karolina Janozeski and is of Polish heritage. Her sister is romance novelist Marsha Canham. Parrish studied at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, graduating in 1969, and became a high school teacher. She served as a Trustee on the Peel Board of Education from 1985 to 1990, and was chairperson from 1988 to 1990. She was first elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal in the 1993 election and was re-elected in the three subsequent general elections of 1997, 2000 and 2004. She ended her federal career representing the Mississauga, Ontario riding of Mississauga—Erindale as an independent member of Parliament.

Never promoted from the parliamentary backbench, Parrish was largely unknown nationally until the eve of the U.S.-led Invasion of Iraq in 2003. On her way out of a meeting on February 26, 2003, in a media scrum, Parrish was overheard on a boom mike saying, "Damn Americans, I hate those bastards!" She later told the media that her comments were directed towards George W. Bush and his administration and not the American people as a whole. Members of the opposition Canadian Alliance party called for her to be punished by then Liberal leader and Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, but no disciplinary action occurred.

After the widespread media attention on her "America-bashing" incident, she remained popular in her home riding. After electoral redistribution leading up to the 2004 election, she faced fellow Liberal MP Steve Mahoney in a nomination battle and narrowly won. She was re-elected with 54% of the vote in the general election, against 32% for her Conservative opponent.^{[citation needed]}

In August 2004, Parrish again created controversy by referring to those supporting the North American missile defence proposal as "a coalition of the idiots," mocking the phrase "coalition of the willing" used by Bush describing the American-led alliance in the invasion of Iraq. Paul Martin, who had succeeded Chrétien as Prime Minister, asked her to use more tact and discretion when sharing her opinions about such subjects but stopped short of asking her to apologize. She responded by saying, "I was elected by thousands of people in my riding. They have known me for years. I think they like my style."

Following the November U.S. election, she expressed shock at the re-election of George W. Bush. She said that "America is completely out of touch with the rest of the free world" and blamed this on collective "profound psychological damage" due to the September 11, 2001 attacks. She was also quoted as saying, "I wouldn't guess what's next on his agenda, but it's probably not peace and love." When Conservative Party members called on her to apologize for these remarks she said that such comments "are in the best traditions of free speech and independence of thought." Earlier that day, Martin had told Liberal MPs in a closed caucus meeting to avoid provocative statements following the U.S. election. Parrish, who did not attend the meeting, said the advice would not have altered what she said.

In October 2004, at the annual Parliamentary Press Gallery dinner in Ottawa, Martin joked about meeting with Bush and discussing the possibility of a crewed mission to Mars. "I thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if we could get a Canadian on board? If a Canadian could be sent tens of millions of miles into the dark void of space. And as we all as a nation watch on television and together say aloud, `Bon voyage, Carolyn Parrish!'"

On November 17, 2004, clips of a skit for the CBC Television comedy series This Hour Has 22 Minutes were released, in which she stomped on a Bush doll and stuck a pin in its head, where she said "it would do the least damage." The full version was to air on November 19. The sketch caused outrage from Conservative members and prompted Martin to ask for a meeting with her.