'Hurricane Hazel' looms over tight Mississauga mayoral race

For decades Hazel McCallion’s immense popularity has taken the suspense out of election campaigns and given Mississauga residents an excuse to tune out.

Now with Hurricane Hazel set to retire at the age of 93, Mississauga is in the midst of an event which has come around only a handful of times in the city’s 46-year history: a competitive mayoral election.

With five weeks to go, a total of 16 people have put their name on the ballot and the frontrunners, former Liberal member of parliament and provincial parliament Steve Mahoney and current city councillor and one-term Liberal MP Bonnie Crombie, are currently locked in a dead heat, with a recent Forum Research poll giving Mahoney a one point lead with 47 per cent of residents still undecided.

“For the first time in many, many years the population is taking a really close look at who the candidates are and what their policy platforms entail to ensure that we get the type of leadership that we want as residents, as businesses and employees,” Mississauga Board of Trade President and CEO Sheldon Leiba told CP24.com. “It is an important election and it is one we can’t take for granted. You know, our city is really at crossroads and we need a leader that is going to give us a similar type of leadership (as McCallion) while also having their own vision that will allow our city to continue moving forward.”

McCallion was first elected in 1978 and was then re-elected a total of 11 times, presiding over the city during a time in which its population grew from about 280,000 people to 713,443.

During her many campaigns, if you can call them that, McCallion famously forgoed any signs, advertisements or promotional appearances, regularly claiming contributions of $0 and expenses of $0.

At the peak of her popularity between 1993 and 2010, McCallion was elected with 90, 94, 92, 91, 91 and 76 per cent of the vote. This despite not even maintaining a campaign office.

“For the first time in 36 years we are actually having an election and we are getting to talk about issues, which is a good thing,” Mahoney told CP24.com. “There are issues where now people are saying ‘I didn’t know that’ or ‘what are we going to do about this.’ That didn’t necessarily happen before and I think people are getting more engaged. This is history in the making.”

“Voter turnout has always been really low and I think that is because people knew they would wake up the day after the election and the buses would run on time and everything would work smoothly because Hazel would be their mayor once again,” added Crombie. “We certainly owe her a debt of gratitude for building such an economic engine of a city.”

Mahoney and Crombie are running on similar platforms.

Both are Liberals, both are unabashed advocates of a planned light rail transit (LRT) line along Hurontario Street, both have promised to keep any property tax hikes within the rate of inflation and both have vowed to develop the Port Credit waterfront — Mahoney wants to create a waterfront development corporation similar to Waterfront Toronto, while Crombie prefers a citizen taskforce.

There are some differences when it comes to the all-important file of transit, though, with Crombie calling for a more “regional perspective,” which would include all-day electrified GO transit service to and from Toronto, LRT’s along Dundas Street and Derry Road and some sort of rail link with Pearson International Airport.

Mahoney, meanwhile, says that the city needs to look at interim solutions like express buses and additional high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on major east-west corridors such as Dundas Street, Burnhamthorpe Road and Eglinton Avenue.

“My focus is how do we improve the east-west flow in 2015; not waiting to 2022 (when the Hurontario LRT is completed) and hoping it happens,” Mahoney told CP24.com.

For her part Crombie says that Mississauga is “uniquely suited” to build light-rail transit because of its relatively wide streets and says the city shouldn’t settle for less efficient forms of transit along busy arteries.

“I think my platform is a far bolder vision for our future and a more long term vision,” Crombie told CP24.com.

Candidates say city at a crossroads

There is no doubt that Mississauga is at a pivotal moment in its history.

For years McCallion rode a wave of tremendous growth, using development fees to help fund infrastructure projects and keep the property tax rate frozen.

Now with the vast tracts of undeveloped real estate that once defined the city harder to find revenue has slowed down.

“It is not a bit of a different chapter; it is a massively different chapter,” Mahoney said, estimating that Mississauga will have an $80 million annual shortfall in its infrastructure budget going forward. “We have to identify projects that have a revenue stream attached and figure out how can we entice our pension funds in Ontario. They have some $400 billion dollars in assets to invest in good safe AAA investments and they currently invest much of their dollars in places like Chile and Argentina. I want them to come here.”

While Mahoney favours going after GTA-based pension funds for new revenue, Crombie says she would look abroad for new opportunities, leveraging Mississauga’s diversity as a tool to attract new companies.

“We can create an international investment and development council and really target high-growth economies whether they be China, India, Pakistan or Brazil,” she told CP24.com.

Hazel staying neutral

With little separating Crombie and Mahoney, McCallion’s endorsement could potentially swing the entire race, but the venerable leader has promised to stay neutral.

That doesn’t mean that she has fallen to the background, though.

Both Crombie and Mahoney have stressed their similarities to the long-time mayor during the campaign and it is likely they will continue to do so right up until the Oct. 27 vote.

“I am kind of at the same place in my career as she was when she started, both of us having come off a business career,” Crombie said, noting that McCallion was around her age when she first ran for mayor. “I think we share the same value system.”

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