Hazel McCallion marks Valentine’s Day with 91st birthday

Not only is Tuesday Valentine’s Day, it’s also Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion’s 91st birthday.

But the mayor isn’t slowing down. She says her day runs from 5:30 a.m. until 11 p.m.

“I haven’t changed my agenda in any way. Unless illness affects me, I will give the citizens the full time,” she told CityNews reporter Francis D’Souza.

McCallion, who has been mayor since 1978, won her 12th term in 2010, and insists this is her last turn at the helm of the city.

She’s been the mayor of Mississauga for 33 years and will be 94 years old at the end of the term.

Under her leadership, Mississauga became the third largest city in Ontario and the sixth largest in Canada, with a population of 734,000.

2012 will mark the first year the city has to borrow money – Mississauga is set to upgrade all traffic lights to LED lights in a $38 million project.

The last few years of McCallion’s reign have been rocky.

In 2009, a conflict of interest inquiry was launched into a land deal involving the mayor and her son. Peter McCallion, a real estate agent in a deal between World Class Developments and the city to build a high-end hotel and convention centre near Mississauga city hall, testified he wasn’t aware he was a part owner of WCD. He stood to benefit financially from the $14.4-million plan.

In the end, an inquiry found McCallion intervened in the land deal on numerous occasions, including after the co-owners terminated the deal. The Mayor attempted to have the litigation settled.

“The last couple of years have been very difficult because of the controversy in the city…I regret in the regard that it turned out the way it did, but all I did was assist in getting the land sold…That was the only role I did. That didn’t mean it was going to get approved by the city,” said McCallion.

But despite the scandal, McCallion recently topped a list of Canada’s most popular mayors with a 78 per cent approval rating.

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