Long-time former Mississauga mayor ‘Hurricane Hazel’ McCallion dies at 101

Hazel McCallion, affectionately generally known as “Hurricane Hazel” for her tireless tenacity, has died on the age of 101, her household confirms.

“At the request of the family, I announce with heavy heart, the passing of my dear friend and mentor, Hazel McCallion,” Premier Doug Ford mentioned in a assertion issued by his workplace.

McCallion died peacefully at her residence in Mississauga early Sunday morning.

McCallion would have turned 102 on Feb. 14.

“Hazel was the true definition of a public servant,” Ford mentioned. “There isn’t a single person who met Hazel who didn’t leave in awe of her force of personality. I count myself incredibly lucky to have called Hazel my friend over these past many years.”

Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie cited McCallion because the driving pressure behind her determination to place her identify on the poll and succeed her as mayor.

“I wouldn’t be the leader I am today if it wasn’t for her support and sage advice,” Crombie mentioned in a press release. “As the saying goes, ‘if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’”

Toronto Mayor John Tory mentioned McCallion’s dedication to native authorities was “absolute.”

“You always knew where you stood with Hazel,” mentioned Tory.

“She didn’t hesitate to work with the federal and provincial governments to get things done for her city but she also spoke truth to power and held those same governments to account whenever she had to.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau known as McCallion “unstoppable” and somebody who impressed numerous others along with her tireless and selfless service.

“I’m going to miss you, my friend, and I’ll always cherish the chats we had – and the wisdom you shared – over the years,” he mentioned in a press release.

McCallion, who was born in Port Daniel, Que., on Valentine’s Day in 1921, went on to turn into Mississauga’s longest-standing mayor — a place she held for a exceptional 12 consecutive phrases over 36 years from 1978-2014.

She retired from politics on the age of 93.

Under her management, Mississauga grew to turn into the sixth largest metropolis in Canada, and McCallion solid her fame as an iconic Canadian character and devoted public servant.

“I worked hard for the people of Mississauga for 36 years,” she humbly mentioned upon her retirement.

After leaving politics, McCallion was appointed chancellor of Sheridan College and particular advisor to the principal of the University of Toronto-Mississauga.

In a collection of interviews with CityNews through the years, McCallion defined how her capability for exhausting work was solid in the course of the powerful Depression years.

“Being a Depression kid, you learn that things were not plentiful, but I ate good food, ate a lot of fish,” she defined. “My mom and dad were hard workers and as a youngster I had to bring the wood in at night because we had an all-wood stove. You learn to look after yourself.”

That powerful childhood was additionally when she discovered to skate, with hockey changing into a lifelong ardour.

“My brother introduced me residence a pair of skates after I was five-years-old. I discovered to skate on a pond in a hay area.”

She went on the play for a girls’s hockey crew in Montreal and the championship trophy on the 1978 World Women’s Hockey Tournament was named the Hazel McCallion World Cup.

“I was a pioneer in politics as a mayor, and I certainly was a pioneer in hockey because I played professional hockey in Montreal in 1940-1941, and was paid $5 a game,” she advised CityNews in 2017.

McCallion was educated in Quebec City and Montreal and began working for engineering and contracting agency Canadian Kellogg in Montreal.

In 1942, she was transferred to Toronto to assist arrange the native workplace. Some of the tasks she was concerned in included the Lakeview Generating Station and the primary artificial rubber plant in Sarnia. She was with the corporate for 19 years till 1967.

She married Sam McCallion in 1951 and had three kids. Her husband handed away in 1997.

A lifetime of public service

McCallion’s life in public service started when she was elected deputy reeve of Streetsville in 1967 and reeve in 1968. She was elected mayor of Streetsville in 1970, serving in that function till 1973.

Streetsville was amalgamated with Mississauga in 1974 and the Region of Peel got here into impact. She went on to function councillor for the Mississauga and Peel Regional Councils for 2 phrases and was elected the mayor of Mississauga in 1978.

She was the primary girl to turn into mayor of Streetsville and Mississauga.

She was additionally appointed as a member of the Order or Canada, was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame and served on the manager of many federal and provincial committees and associations, together with President of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.

“A woman can do anything a man can do, anything,” she harassed. “We just have to have confidence, determination and commitment to make it happen.”

It was in her function as mayor of Mississauga that she rose to prominence, changing into a beloved determine who was time-and-time once more rewarded on the polls by a grateful citizens.

Her decades-long tenure, nonetheless, wasn’t with out obstacles and controversies.

She oversaw the evacuation of 200,000 individuals from their houses, when a CP freight prepare with 106 automobiles carrying poisonous chemical compounds derailed close to Mavis Road and Dundas Street on Nov. 10, 1979, inflicting a fireplace and explosion.

No deaths had been reported. She, together with different officers, had been praised for the way they dealt with the evacuation.

In 1982, she was discovered responsible of battle of curiosity for violating the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act by voting on a difficulty that might have benefited her household. She was allowed to stay mayor.

In 2011, a Mississauga resident introduced forth a case, alleging she violated the Act when she took half in a 2007 council vote which stood to learn her son. A decide dismissed the case in 2013

Those controversies did little to dim her enduring reputation or fame as an ageless trailblazer.

Across Ontario, Feb. 14 is named Hazel McCallion Day and a number of other establishments had been named in her honour together with Hazel McCallion Senior Public School and Hazel McCallion Central Library.

In the autumn of 2021, the artwork exhibit Hazel: 100 Years of Memories was unveiled in her honour at Erin Mills Town Centre. “I assumed after I retired as mayor in 2014 that I might simply disappear from the scene … I simply can’t consider it, the way in which during which the group has come collectively to acknowledge what I used to be capable of contribute,” she advised CityNews on the exhibit.

When requested in regards to the secrets and techniques to her longevity and productiveness, McCallion was fast to supply sensible phrases.

“You’re only as old as you think,” she mentioned. “And you may be previous at 50, you may be previous at 40. It’s your perspective in the direction of your years and your perspective in the direction of life. You’ve gotta take pleasure in on daily basis and also you’ve gotta be sure you fulfill a function on daily basis.

“If you want to be a success you’ve gotta be independent. And you have to realize that you’re on this earth for a purpose, so get with it!”

With information from CityNews workers, Breakfast Television, The Canadian Press and City of Mississauga

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