MISSISSAUGA MAYOR HAZEL MCCALLION
Her Worship
Quiet time spent in family room, big backyard with tranquil pond
Sep 15, 2007 04:30 AM
MIKE FUNSTON
STAFF REPORTER
Running her city of 700,000 people in businesslike fashion, the human dynamo known as Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion doesn’t waste time making decisions.
So it was no surprise she didn’t hesitate when the right property became available 20 years ago.
“I was at a meeting at city hall when my son Peter, who was in real estate then, called and said: `Mom, I think I found a place that you’ll like.’ I left the meeting at once and as soon as I saw it I said to him: `Buy it.’ ”
That’s classic McCallion – firm and decisive.
Now in her 29th consecutive year at the helm of Canada’s sixth largest city, she’s still sharp as a tack and maintains a torrid pace at age 86.
In the few hours a week she has to relax, home is her refuge. It’s tucked away on a quiet court on an unpretentious street that backs onto Carolyn Creek, a tributary of the Credit River and within the Streetsville neighbourhood she has always loved. The subdivision was built in the early 1980s.
RICK EGLINTON PHOTO/TORONTO STAR
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion relaxes with a book in the family room, her favourite place in her Streetsville home. She and her late husband, Sam, had it built as an extension.
In 1951, McCallion moved with husband Sam (who died in 1997) to what was then the Town of Streetsville (absorbed by Mississauga in 1974). She was still working as an office manager for engineering firm Canadian Kellogg, a career that spanned 25 years before she entered politics. McCallion also served as mayor of Streetsville before joining Mississauga for two terms as a councillor after amalgamation.
The couple moved into that first home, a farmhouse on Britannia Rd., and raised their children Peter, Paul and Linda there. Originally from Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, McCallion loves open space. They lived on the sprawling property, where the kids had their own horses, until 1987. By that time the kids had grown up and the area was ripe for development.
What sold her so quickly on her current two-storey, red brick house?
“The big backyard,” she replies without hesitation.
She can’t recall the dimensions but estimates it’s about “100 by 200 feet.” It came with a swimming pool, in which she takes a dip on a hot day, and plenty of room for her flower and vegetable gardens. She cuts the backyard grass on a sit-down mower.
The house originally had four bedrooms. Two were converted into a single large room. The kitchen overlooked the backyard but eventually she and Sam had an extension built, adding a spacious family room leading to the patio. That’s McCallion’s favourite place in the house.
“It has just turned this into a beautiful home,” she says of the addition. “Everyone who visits here ends up in that room.”
In it she has a padded rocking chair to watch news and programs on her favourite channel, Discovery, on a big-screen TV. On one wall hangs a treasured picture of Gaspé coast fishing boats by renowned Canadian photographer George Hunter, noted for his scenic photography.
At the other end of the room sits a padded blue chair in a special corner. That was a favourite resting place for her beloved German shepherd, Hurricane. Last month, her son Paul took Hurricane for a walk. Without warning, she collapsed on the street and died of a heart attack at age 12.
McCallion was heartbroken.
A gift from daughter Linda for her 75th birthday, McCallion had forged a strong bond with her pet (the name was based on McCallion’s own Hurricane Hazel nickname) and is still grieving her death.
“It will take me a long time to get over it,” she says. “She was a wonderful dog, kind and gentle with strangers. People loved her.”
Beside the chair is a framed picture of Hurricane, ears pinned back in an affectionate pose. Every morning McCallion has breakfast (a bowl of cereal) there so she can be with Hurricane in spirit. A bouquet of flowers was beside the table, sent by jazz musician Oscar Peterson on hearing of the dog’s death. On another table were several sympathy cards from friends. One couple donated a magnolia bush that will be planted at Hurricane’s favourite spot in the yard.
When she’s not keeping Mississauga debt-free, running her council, cutting ribbons or giving talks on sustainable development in places like China, as she did this summer, McCallion relaxes by tending her gardens. Roses are her favourite.
The rock garden and the recently added man-made pond with exotic fish decorate the pool-patio area. A professional landscaper who teaches classes in pond building brought 30 of his students over recently and built it in one day. The only thing she doesn’t like is the maintenance. It takes more work than the pool, she says.
But sitting outside and listening to the soothing sound of water cascading over the rocks brings her a feeling of tranquility that more than makes up for it, McCallion says.
In the vegetable garden, in a back corner of the yard, she grows tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, celery, beans, lettuce and chard. The garden is fenced off, to keep out rascally rabbits and deer.
McCallion doesn’t use pesticides and pulls out weeds by hand. She doesn’t water the grass either, saying it is wasteful. “The lawn dries up, but it always comes back.”
She has a home office, but seldom uses it, preferring to sit at a wooden table in a cozy nook just outside the kitchen where she reads reports and takes phone calls. She doesn’t use a computer.
The living room is seldom used and is more like a storage room for the many gifts and souvenirs she has acquired in her travels, as well as for family pictures and even an antique clock that used to wake her up in the morning as a child.
Over the garage is a large room devoted to her archives, filled with thousands of photos and articles and there’s a second smaller room with the overflow.
“I’m going to have to go through everything and try and identify it. Somebody wants to write a book.”
She’s had a couple of book offers but hasn’t agreed to any deals, she says, before driving to a luncheon meeting in her car with the trademark Mayor 1 licence plate.
http://www.thestar.com/article/255951
