Hazel McCallion
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Mayor McCallion was named as a sponsor for a World Vision Canada charity campaign Hazel's Hope, fighting AIDS in Africa. |
Hazel McCallion,
CM (born
February 14,
1921) is the
mayor of
Mississauga,
Ontario,
Canada's sixth largest city. McCallion has been Mississauga's mayor since
1978.
Affectionately called "
Hurricane Hazel" [
1] by supporters as well as the media at large for her vibrant outspoken style of no nonsense politics.
Hazel McCallion was born in
Port Daniel on the
Gaspé Coast of
Quebec. Her father owned a fishing and canning company. Her mother was a homemaker and ran the family farm. After high school she attended business secretarial school in
Quebec City and
Montreal. She has stated, especially while receiving university honours, that she would have wanted to attend university, but financially her family could not afford it. After working in Montreal, she was transferred by Canadian
Kellogg company to
Toronto.
She met and married her husband, Sam McCallion, soon after in an
Anglican Church congregation. As a marriage present from McCallions' in-laws, a piece of land in what would later become Mississauga, near the village of Streetsville, was given to the newlyweds. She has two sons, Peter and Paul, one daughter Linda and a granddaughter Erika. McCallion has often stated, such as on
TV Ontario's
Studio 2, that her husband was always encouraging and supportive of her political career. Prior to becoming Mayor, Hazel and her husband founded
The Mississauga Booster community newspaper, a paper that her son now edits and publishes. In
1997, Sam McCallion died of
Alzheimer's disease. The Sam McCallion Day Centre was created by the Alzheimer Society of Peel to honour Sam, the founder of the annual
Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival.
McCallion is well known in Canada for her love of
hockey, a game she still plays recreationally. In fact, she played for a professional women's team while attending school in Montreal. She still resides in Streetsville.
McCallion began her
political career in
Streetsville, Ontario, a village which has since merged into the city of Mississauga. Beginning as the chairman of the Streetsville Planning Board in
1967, she later became deputy
reeve of Streetsville and was appointed reeve soon after. She was elected as Streetsville's mayor in
1970, serving until
1973. By the time she was elected mayor of Mississauga, she had sat on virtually every committee at the
Peel Region and the city of Mississauga. She has also served on the executive of many federal and provincial committees and associations.
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McCallion's spiritual home is Trinty Anglican Church on Queen Street in Streetsville. |
She was first elected Mayor in
1978, narrowly defeating the popular incumbent
Ron A. Searle. McCallion had been in office only a few months when a public health and safety crisis occurred during the
Mississauga train derailment of 1979. On November 10th a
Canadian Pacific train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in a heavily populated area of Mississauga near
Mavis Road. A large explosion and fire ensued as hazardous chemicals spilled. McCallion, along with the
Peel Regional Police and other governmental authorities, oversaw an orderly and peaceful evacuation of the entire city. She sprained her ankle early in the crisis, but continued to hobble to press conferences and update briefings. There was no loss of life or serious injuries during the week-long emergency, and Mississauga gained international renown for the peaceful evacuation of its 200,000 residents.
McCallion has overseen the growth of
Mississauga from a small collection of towns and villages to one of Canada's largest cities. She has faced challenges few mayors do, for the dynamic growth of the Toronto area after the
1976 election of
René Lévesque'
Parti Québécois government sparked an exodus of
Anglophones and corporations from Montreal to Toronto. As Toronto grew in national standing, Mississauga politicians worked to define their community beyond a
bedroom community of Toronto.
Today, Mississauga is home to a mix of commercial, residential, industrial, and recreational areas. According to
Canadian Relocation Systems, "Mississauga [has] 9,730 businesses, widely diversified in manufacturing, distribution and business services. As well, there are approximately 9,000 retail businesses." McCallion governments spearheaded the development of a 'downtown' Mississauga area. The building of the shopping centre
Square One in the Hurontario and
Burnhamthorpe Road section of the city during the
1970s has evolved into a centre of commercial and recreational activity.
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Mississauga's Central Library. |
The Civic Centre, including a new city hall, Central Library, and
Mississauga Living Arts Centre, along with a
Mississauga Transit terminal and shopping and entertainment options now populate the former fallow farm land. This city centre helped unite residents of the different towns that made up Mississauga without destroying the smaller villages. The construction of
Highway 403 in the
1980s eased access to this area of the city. In the
1990s, the
Hershey Centre, a hockey arena and concert venue, was built near Matheson and Tomken Road facilitating the creation of the
Ontario Hockey League's expansion team
Mississauga IceDogs.
McCallion has also had some unsuccessful initiatives. Under Ontario law, Mississauga is part of
Peel Region, along with
Brampton and
Caledon. McCallion and Mississauga council have asked that their city be made a single tier municipality, but so far that request has been denied by the Ontario government. Mississauga has so far obtained two additional seats on the regional council which still gives it less representation than its proportionate share by population or by municipal tax base. This has created
controversy within the region.
Not collecting taxes due to the City of Mississauga when the federal government appropriated land for Terminal 3 of
Toronto Pearson International Airport cost the city millions initially, but may be considered an investment towards helping expand Canada's largest
international airport which benefits Mississauga.
Gridlock on the arterial roads continues to plague Mississauga as in the rest of Peel Region. There are other issues affecting residents, such as a lack of affordable housing â€" another Peel Region responsibility. Currently, residents who qualify to receive
social housing must wait many years before units are made available by Peel Region, which is instead directing the region's $1.2 billion accumulated tax reserves toward the provincial mandate for water treatment expansion and repairs, which must be completed by 2010 to comply with environmental regulations developed as a result of the
Walkerton Commission reports.[
2]
In 1982, McCallion was found guilty of a conflict of interest on a planning decision by the
Ontario High Court of Justice due to not absenting herself from a council meeting discussing a matter in which she had an interest. However, it was found to be a
bona fide error of judgment and she was not required to vacate her seat. [
3]
McCallion has been easily elected for the last twenty years, with no serious challengers coming close to unseating her as mayor of the city. Due to her popularity, she does not campaign during elections and refuses to accept political donations, instead asking her supporters to donate the money to charity.
She was lauded as a hero in April 2006 during a police standoff involving a distraught man threatening to kill himself. The five hour standoff promptly came to a peaceful end when McCallion showed up on the scene and demanded he stand down so that police and fire personnel could attend to more important matters. [
4]
Mayor McCallion has worked with a variety of federal and provincial governments, and has not expressed a consistent party preference, preferring to work constructively with each elected official.
Her principles are grounded in the belief that a city should be run like a business; thus, she encourages the business model of governance. Her family's business background, her education and prior career in a corporation prepared her to approach government with a business model. Although McCallion was one of the first females to hold political power in Canada, it is difficult to categorize her as a
feminist. She is able to express support for female equality in Canada, and internationally, without being
typecast ideologically. She was chosen one of the "American Women of the Year" in
Who's Who of American Women, as well as "Women of the Year 2001" by an international business lobby. [
5].
Her
Christian faith also contributes to her concern for the public good. A member of
Trinity Anglican Church in Streetsville, her charitable work now includes
Hazel's Hope, a campaign to fund health care for children afflicted with
AIDS and
HIV in southern
Africa. Accordingly, she has been lauded as "an international ambassador for the city and a world citizen" by
World Mayor, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization advancing the concerns of cities internationally.
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Mayor McCallion gives Mississauga resident Oscar Peterson a civic honour. |
She is one of Canada's best known and longest serving mayors. At the age of 82, she was easily re-elected in November
2003 for her 10th consecutive term. Mississauga is one of the few cities in Canada that is debt-free, and it has not had to borrow money since
1978 (it was incorporated in
1974), and it has $650 CAD million in the bank.
* In
2005 she was made a Member of the
Order of Canada.
**
Bell Mobility commemorated this with a downloadable ringtone featuring McCallion's voice, with proceeds going to Hazel's Hope. She is the first North American Mayor to receive her own ringtone.
* She ranked second in the 2005 international
World Mayor poll, behind only
Dora Bakoyannis of
Athens.
* The
University of Toronto at Mississauga has named their new library and academic learning centre after McCallion, in appreciation for the support offered the campus in its growth and development.
* The
Peel Board of Education has named a school after her as well: the
Hazel McCallion Senior Public School.
*
2003 Ontario municipal elections*
Mayor's Office*
Article on Mayor Hazel McCallion*
Order of Canada Citation*
World Mayor poll results,
interview*
The Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre
