Hazel McCallion

They're terrified of you.

Listen, Hazel McCallion did the job as mayor.

I did the job as mayor.

I didn't need two deputies.

You know, it reminded me of a story about Bonnie Crombie.

I think Carolyn Parrish was probably trying to be a little ironic, maybe.

But I did very extensive interviews with the late great Hazel McCallion on the occasion of her 100th birthday.

And she came to the Zoomerplex.

This is a CBC podcast.

Hazel and I did the job ourselves and we were committed and we were present and you're not.

You have abdicated not only the police board, but your duties, your fiduciary duty as mayor.

I have done, somebody once said recently, I've done more in two years than the last mayor did in 10.

I mean, it's definitely pretty rare, especially for big cities.

I think it being Mississauga, it being Bonny Crombie, there's definitely that awkward element to it.

You know, this is a city where the previous mayor before Crombie served 36 years and that was Hazel McCallion.

And it does happen like in Hamilton, I think in 2010, they had one incumbent and a former mayor running against each other and they both lost.

And interestingly, they're, uh, the one level of government that's least able to cope with financial challenges.

The late, great Mayor Hazel McCallion, when I asked her once in a meeting on democracy that I was chairing to give me her definition, she said, "Well, Ted, that's simple.

The feds have got all the money, the province has got all the power, and municipalities have or will soon have all the problems." And, uh, I think that's a reality that, uh, is very difficult to live with, and the restrictions on us.

We're the only level of government that can't run a deficit.

That's not the same as local races.

The big variable is how many people are running and is there incumbent or not? So you have local races where like Hazel McCallion used to get like, you know, 90%.

And was it because of an enormous level of support in her case? Yes.

But it also is a product of like, not really competitive.

You know, he's 89.

If he wins this election and steps aside, he'll step aside at the same age that Hazel McCallion stepped aside.

Maybe that's the record that he wants.

I tend to go in the direction of we do have term limits.

So, you know, it's, it's...

We- Hazel McCallion built the city, and she was the most cautious person I ever met.

[laughs]

And [chuckles] we don't want, we don't wanna wreck that nice history.

I bet you they could look back as well and go, "Oh, that person voted this way." You, uh, you got a really interesting scenario in Mississauga, obviously, with a current mayor and, and a former mayor.

Everybody, every cop in Mississauga would be familiar with, with Bonnie Crombie having replaced the legendary Hazel McCallion.

So it's just to ask, how savvy do you think your, your group is, your officers are paying attention to the issues, especially when it comes to crime and safety?

Yeah, I, I can tell you firsthand our, our officers are fully committed, obviously, and this is not a political answer.