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.