Hazel Mc Callion - Political Views

Political Views

McCallion has worked with a variety of federal and provincial governments, and has not expressed a consistent party preference, preferring to work with each elected official.

Her principles are grounded in the belief that a city should be run like a business; thus, she encourages the business model of governance. Her family's business background, her education and prior career in a corporation prepared her to approach government with a business model. Mississauga is one of the few cities in Canada that is debt-free; it has not had to borrow money since 1978. However, Mississauga may have to borrow money to build new capital projects in 2012. She has been described as a "small-c" conservative.

Although McCallion is one of the most prominent women now holding political power in Canada, it is difficult to categorize her as a feminist. She is able to express support for women's equality in Canada, and internationally, without being typecast ideologically. She was chosen one of the "American Women of the Year" in Who's Who of American Women as well as "Women of the Year 2001" by an international business lobby.

Her Christian faith also contributes to her concern for the public good. A member of Trinity Anglican Church in Streetsville, her charitable work now includes Hazel's Hope, a campaign to fund health care for children afflicted with AIDS and HIV in southern Africa. Accordingly, she has been lauded as "an international ambassador for the city and a world citizen" by a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization advancing the concerns of cities internationally.

In 2007, McCallion responded to the federal government's refusal to give one cent of the GST to the cities, a funding source long requested by many municipalities across Canada, by planning to levy a five per cent surcharge on property taxes in the city. She was able to have the levy introduced and approved on the same day by Mississauga council, in contrast to Mayor David Miller of Toronto who was unable to get increased tax revenue approved for months. Most media coverage, as well as Toronto mayor David Miller, noted that McCallion was arguably one of the few mayors in the country with the political capital to implement such a strategy.

McCallion has also expressed pessimism over Miller's 'One-cent now', saying that "I can assure you our citizens can’t point out to us where there’s a lot of waste. Toronto, unfortunately, has that situation, in which their citizens are saying it, as well as their board of trade has been saying it and even their own councillors are saying it. If my councillors were saying we were wasting money, I'd be really concerned. I think we give value for tax dollars; we run our city like a business." Toronto councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong made a comparison; "Hazel McCallion runs a tight ship. David Miller’s ship has leaks all over the place,” and some commentators suggested this allowed Mississauga to make a more credible case to the federal government. She unveiled her own plan known as 'Cities Now!' to get federal funding for municipal infrastructure.

McCallion hosts an annual gala in Mississauga to raise money for arts and culture in the city. Attendees at the 2008 gala, which also marked the 30th anniversary of McCallion's election to the mayoralty of Mississauga, included former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario Lincoln Alexander and American talk show host Regis Philbin.