An Afternoon with Hurricane Hazel McCallion – She’s worth more than a Tweet
After several attempts and weeks of waiting, I finally got to spend a few hours with the Mayor of Mississauga yesterday in her back garden. I’ve been covering Hazel McCallion for most of her 36 years as mayor so I wanted to do a decent feature interview with her before she hands the reins over to whom ever wins the election next month. If you are reading this from outside Ontario or Canada let me explain that Ms. McCallion is probably the longest serving elected politician on the Planet. She’s presided over the growth and development of the territory immediately west of Toronto ( Mississauga ) for the last 36 years. She converted it from farm fields to the 6th largest city in Canada. At 93 years of age, she’s decided not to seek another term – not because she’s tired or unable, but because she has other things she wants to do!
Her current schedule would kill most of us. I know I couldn’t physically or mentally keep up with it and I’m 30 years her junior. When I tried weeks ago to book some time to talk with her, I was informed by her E.A. that she only had ONE ( 2 hour block of time) available between yesterday and the end of October! – so we chose to meet at her house in mid afternoon where she could drop in to feed ” Missy”, her giant German Shepherd and so that she could change clothes before the next three events of the day that would take her into the evening hours. I made sure I arrived a good half hour early rather than risk losing the spot to traffic congestion.
Hazel was a bit late so I waited in the drive way trying to convince ” Missy ” that I was friend not foe as she barked from inside the house in that German Shepherd kind of way that convinces you to keep a distance from the door when the Mayor is not around or risk having to change your own underwear. The Mayor arrived behind the wheel of her electric ( Volt ) sedan that bears the licence plate “Mayor 1″. She stepped out of the car apologetically with a brief case in one hand and a two dozen roses in the other. The roses were from Mississauga city staff , about 2000 of them , who had gathered and lined up a couple of hours earlier at City Hall to shake her hand and to celebrate her contribution. She had shaken every single one of those hands before she shook mine in the driveway ( actually, given my Italian heritage, we peck kissed on both cheeks ) before strolling into her paper cluttered kitchen where she put the coffee on and reminded me she sits very early in the morning listening to us on the radio there while having her breakfast. ” Missy” chills down ( thank god ) with the help of a cookie the Mayor suggests I extend as a peace offering while we chit-chat about her day so far and the news of the hour including the health challenge faced by Rob Ford.
As much as I embrace the value and appetite for the current media climate of short clips, tweets, and exit scrums, I really wanted to do a full, long-form interview with Hazel McCallion who I think deserves more of our attention than many of us have become used to giving. At 93, and given her electoral record, I think we can learn a lot from her about life, aging, politics and retirement – or at least be entertained by her take on people from Rob Ford to Justin Trudeau to Stephen Harper. So, click here to watch and listen hope you enjoy.