Hazel McCallion is one of the most interesting figures in
Canadian politics. Until 2014 she was the mayor of Mississauga and figure of
legendary proportions. She was the mayor, uninterrupted, between 1978 and 2014
and retired in her nineties. Before that she was Mayor of Mississauga she was
the last Mayor of Streetsville and has been a prominent figure in Mississauga
area for years. Tom Urbaniak tackles a difficult challenge - deconstructing the
leadership of Hazel McCallion and the history of Mississauga. Mississauga is as
much a character of this book as McCallion herself. Mississauga was a
repository for the second generation of suburban development. Communities
linked along the Queen Elizabeth Expressway and 401 developed splinter
neighbourhoods and now Mississauga is one of the largest cities in Canada with
over 700000 residents. From suburban sprawl to edge city, from monoculture to
multicultural the city has evolved tremendously, yet the whole time McCallion
was there.
Urbaniak explores McCallion's life to seek out her
leadership style. Hazel McCallion, born Journeaux, grew up in a small town in
eastern Quebec. As impressive as McCallion's longevity her meteoric rise may
surpass it. She graduated high school in Quebec City and went to secretarial
school. She did quite well in the business work with Canadian Kellogg. Her role
expanded dramatically during the war and she was responsible for overseeing massive
operations. Here is likely where McCallion developed her business-oriented
style.
She married her husband, Sam, and they settled in the
growing Streetsville. This is when McCallion entered politics. The area was
rife with political conflict. What is now Mississauga was quickly, but
haphazardly, developing. Streetsville and Port Credit were under growing
pressure from the Township of Toronto. Streetsville had a dynamic local
political scene. McCallion and others were part of the "reformer"
school who wanted to see municipal business professionalized and development
slowed. This conflict is central to the story until the move towards amalgamation
in 1974. McCallion as Mayor of Streetsville fought against amalgamation, but in
1978 was elected as the Mayor of Mississauga.
This is fundamental to Urbaniak's analysis. Urbaniak
supposes the following; McCallion's career could only exist in a place like
Mississauga. In Streetsville she was challenge by organized, influential
activists and powerful constituencies. In Mississauga the slate was wiped
clean. There was no substantial media investigating. The massive city and
isolated communities had trouble organizing against Mayor McCallion. After only
a few terms all forms of resistance evaporated. The Mississauga Council acted
in a "business-like" fashion. Decisions were made behind closed door
and the democracy and civic engagement of Mississauga atrophied.
McCallion, according to Urbaniak, developed a very
special type of machine. The constant growth of Mississauga provided a stream
of revenue from development fees, and few controversies. Taxes stayed low and
Mississauga is only now wrestling with problems of being a major urban centre.
McCallion's model began to falter towards the end of her tenure. She learned
that smart growth was required, but squandered her bully pulpit to change
planning in Peel Region. Mississauga now enters the difficult and more
contentious time of redevelopment and intensification which may have spawned
constituency groups to resist McCallion's rule.
Tom Urbaniak paints a compelling portrait of Hazel
McCallion. It is laced with meaningful criticism, but it also captures her
overwhelming popularity. The chapters that details her handling of the train
derailment disaster captures all of these aspects in one. McCallion viewed
herself as a voice of the people and accountable ultimately to them. But like
many populist leaders she used it as bludgeon to get her way. Now that
McCallion's term has ended I would love to see an update to this book. It was
published in 2009 and would be interesting to discuss the final years and give
more perspective on her legacy.
One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was that
it put in context much of the history of Peel. Urbaniak takes pains to lay out
the context of what was happening in Peel in the twentieth century. I found it
a valuable explanation of how my home region came to be the way it is. Moreover
the figure of Hazel McCallion is, if Urbaniak is correct, unlikely to be seen
in this part of the province ever again. The political landscape has changed
and the conflagration of circumstances that allowed McCallion to be the mayor
for over forty years would be very difficult to repeat in part due to
circumstances and in part due to her unique character.
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