Mr. Speaker, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to allow members to make statements in remembrance of the late Mayor Hazel McCallion, fifth mayor of Mississauga, with five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s loyal opposition, five minutes allotted to the independent members as a group and five minutes allotted to His Majesty’s government.

Good morning, Speaker. It is an honour to rise today to pay tribute to the remarkable life of Mayor Hazel McCallion. Everyone in this House knows of the no-nonsense Hurricane Hazel, who served as the mayor of Mississauga for 36 years, ushering the city into a new era. Indeed, under her tenure, Mississauga transformed into Canada’s sixth-largest city.

For 101—just short of 102—years, she lived a dynamic and colourful life. Born in Port Daniel, Quebec, Hazel McCallion moved to Montreal as a child. In the early 1940s, she played professional hockey, one of the first women ever to do so, and that spirit stayed with her. Into her eighties, she carried a hockey stick in her car trunk on the off chance she came across a game. Hazel’s passion for hockey led her to do great work with the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, advocating to grow women’s hockey as a sport.

Hazel also supported politicians of all different stripes with her singular goal of bringing prosperity to the city she loved. She once joked that she never considered running provincially or federally, because she’d wear out the carpet crossing the floor—not a problem I have, Speaker, but it speaks to her ability to work with everyone, regardless of political stripe.

Her straightforward approach led her to being a sympathetic ear to Prime Ministers, Premiers and mayors alike, and no matter her age, Hazel burst with energy. She rarely missed a local event, and even in political retirement she was an adviser to the Ontario government, first chancellor of the Hazel McCallion Campus of Sheridan College, and oversaw the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.

While we in this House may not agree on everything, we can all agree that Hazel left behind an extraordinary legacy. She was a trailblazer, an innovator, and she inspired many women to enter politics. She was small in stature, but she was a giant.

On behalf of Ontario’s official opposition, we are profoundly grateful to her family for the sacrifices they made to share her with the people of Mississauga and with all of us. Mayor McCallion will never be forgotten.

It is truly an honour to rise today and pay tribute to Her Worship, Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. Hurricane Hazel served as Mississauga’s mayor from 1978 to 2014. She was one of the longest-serving mayors in Canadian history, and a symbol of strength and inspiration to a great many through her decades of service.

A business person, an athlete, a politician and a force of nature in all that she did, very few people have or will ever come close to what Hazel McCallion achieved in her lifetime, and she lived to be 101 years old, passing away just a couple of days shy of her 102nd birthday, which is February 14, Hazel McCallion Day. Her accomplishments are reflected in the honours that she received, which include the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee Medals, and an honorary doctorate of law degree from the University of Toronto and Ryerson University.

Hazel’s story is closely connected to the village of Streetsville, where she put down roots and settled with her husband, Sam McCallion, in 1951 to raise their three children, Peter, Linda and Paul. This was also where her remarkable political career began to take shape.

Beginning in 1964, she served the community on the Streetsville Planning Board and was later elected as mayor of Streetsville in 1970. Hazel was a true public servant and a mayor of the people, who dedicated her life to tirelessly and selflessly serving her community and her city.

Her first act of courage, in 1979, was to evacuate safely the residents of Mississauga with the Mississauga train derailment. Over 200,000 residents were saved from this explosion.

Throughout a period that spanned 36 years, she oversaw a process of amalgamation and growth, and not only put Mississauga on the map, but transformed the place from a small city just west of Toronto to Canada’s seventh-largest city.

I want to say a few words now about the significance of what Hazel McCallion meant to generations of women, and so many are in the gallery today for this tribute. To say that she was a mentor or an exemplar would be a considerable understatement. I got to meet Hurricane Hazel very early in my career in business while at Bell Canada, and she left an impression. Hazel had a rare drive that could be seen early on in her passion for hockey, which she played from the time when she was a young girl. This was a space where she challenged the status quo of male dominance, and for that, she will always be remembered as a trailblazer in the world of Canadian women’s hockey. Unwavering in her belief that having more women in leadership roles would make an important difference in our communities, she went on to become a force that helped propel women all across Canada into politics. She was a champion of the people, a true inspiration and a catalyst for change.

As anyone who spent any significant time around her knows, you never had to guess what Hazel was thinking. She spoke her mind. She did her homework, and it became well known that she expected everyone she worked with to do theirs. Hazel McCallion was a voice that demanded to be heard, and she made sure that she was heard. But far beyond that, she also earned the respect that won the admiration of political leaders from all levels of Canadian politics. She left an enduring mark on her community and the city of Mississauga, and she will be greatly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her.

My deepest condolences to Hazel’s family, especially her children Peter, Linda and Paul, and her granddaughter Erika. Her legacy will remain with us and be an inspiration to all for many generations to come.

I rise today to pay tribute to my dear friend Hazel McCallion. My deepest condolences go to her children, Peter, Linda and Paul, and her granddaughter Erika, and everyone who had the pleasure of knowing the one and only Hazel McCallion.

I’ll tell you what Hazel meant to me. Hazel was a mentor, she was an adviser, but most importantly, she was a dear friend.

Hazel was a giant. She was a true leader, in charge of every discussion—even when we had breakfast in the morning, she would take charge—every debate in rooms she entered. There isn’t a single person who met Hazel who didn’t leave in awe of her force of personality throughout her life. Whether on the ice, in the boardroom or on the floor of the council chamber, she was a force to be reckoned with.

She always said what was on her mind, and she was always, always right, because she never lost sight of why she entered public service: to serve the people. No politician in the country understood grassroots better than Hazel did. She was in the malls, she was in the stores and she was on the streets meeting the people and listening to what they need.

She was a champion for the underdog because she believed in them, she saw their potential, and because at one time she was one herself. She grew up in a time when women, like her, were told no, but she didn’t accept that, and she proved the naysayers wrong. That’s what made Hazel such a trailblazer.

She was an icon, a legend. She was Hurricane Hazel, and today we honour her. As I said last week, we honour her 36 years as mayor of Mississauga—the longest-serving mayor in the history of Mississauga. She dedicated her life to building and serving the city she loved so much.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll tell you a story. I had her over and we went out for breakfast, and she sat down and she talked to me about how when she took the chair of mayor in 1978, the population of Mississauga was 281,000 people. Today—and it’s growing—it’s over 716,000 people, the sixth-largest city in the country. That’s a growth of 435,000 people. Just think of that: 435,000 people. She told me in the conversation—as the leader of the Green Party said—about the greenbelt and developing and so on and so forth. She told me that there were cow pastures all throughout Mississauga, and now there are hospitals; there are homes; there are community centres; there are long-term-care centres; there are roads; there are transit systems. She said, “Doug, don’t listen to the naysayers. Don’t listen to no. We have a growing population. Move forward and be the visionary that this province needs to fulfill the needs of the 300,000 people coming to this province.” I think she said that publicly, as well, numerous times.

So I’m going to listen to Hazel McCallion, one of the true leaders in this country. We’re going to make sure that the 300,000 people who come here will have a place to call home; a place that they can put the key in the door, walk through the door, have a family, start a business.

Mississauga, because of her being a visionary, is a better city. Ontario is a better province and Canada is a better country because of the vision that Hazel McCallion had.

I’m so lucky to consider Hazel my dear friend. She was a gift. She was a mentor. May God bless Hazel McCallion.

Applause.

Speaker, it is an honour to rise today to pay tribute to Her Worship the late mayor of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion. The word that keeps coming to mind when people remember Hurricane Hazel is “one-of-a-kind.” It is well earned. There has never been a public figure quite like the long-serving mayor of Mississauga, and I doubt there ever will be.

She was a trailblazer, feisty and fearless, beloved by her constituents, respected and feared in equal measure by those she crossed swords with. No Premier had to bestow strong-mayor powers on Hazel McCallion; she simply assumed them through sheer force of will, and for 12 consecutive terms—36 years, into her 94th year—she used them to change the face of her city.

I last spoke with Mayor McCallion in November when our paths crossed at duelling events, and she was very clear about what she thought about my position on the greenbelt. Speaker, there is no doubt I took it squarely on the chin, but despite that, I join my fellow MPPs and countless others in Ontario and across Canada in paying tribute to a remarkable woman and the remarkable life she lived. May we all aspire to Hazel McCallion’s unparalleled commitment to public service and to her community.

She will be missed, but she will never be forgotten, the one-of-a-kind mayor of Mississauga. May she rest in peace.

We give thanks for the life and public service of Hazel McCallion.