Former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion Endorses Doug Ford

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Published May 24, 2018 at 7:16 pm

hazelskating

The longest serving mayor in Mississauga history has come on the side of Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party.

Hazel McCallion, who was mayor from 1978 to 2014, announced in a video posted on Ford’s Facebook page that she is backing the former Toronto city councillor as the next premier of Ontario.

“As Mayor, I never ran the city based on debt. That’s why I’m supporting Doug Ford because he is the right leader to bring Ontario back to its status as the leading province in Canada,” McCallion said, adding the Liberals have admitted not everything has been perfect in Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario.

“That’s one way of putting it,” the former Mississauga mayor quipped about that assessment. This is a markedly different position than 5 years ago, when McCallion endorsed Wynne for both the Liberal leadership convention in 2013 and the subsequent 2014 provincial election, when Wynne won a majority.

McCallion continues, saying she knows the “real” Doug Ford, as “a family man, hardworking and can be trusted”. The video ends with McCallion saying Doug will be “the people’s premier.”


But although Hazel endorsed Ford’s PC party to take the helm of the provincial government, she also endorsed the reelection of Liberal candidate Charles Sousa, the current Finance Minister, in the riding of Mississauga Lakeshore.

During the official launch of Sousa’s campaign office, McCallion said “I’m not a party person; I believe in supporting the individual that is committed to supporting the people in the riding.”

The former Mississauga mayor’s track record on endorsements shows that she’s been on the right side of history thus far. Aside from the previous Wynne endorsement, McCallion also endorsed her successor Bonnie Crombie, and in the 2015 federal election she endorsed Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, who ended up winning.

But now, with the options for the next government being mainly the PCs or the NDP under Andrea Horwath, Hazel is opting for a more traditional choice in a new government.

I wonder if what Ford’s late brother did in helping her snag “a 16 pound Chinook salmon” during a fishing trip has anything to do with this decision?


Dating back to 2003, when McCallion soured on the last PC government and told Mississauga voters to “vote for the best people”, the city has mostly gone Liberal red. Now with Hazel’s blessing, will the ridings in Mississauga opt for going back to blue?

Or have you simply gotten tired of voting based on what Hazel McCallion is telling you to do?

Advanced voting days run from May 26 to May 30, and the actual election takes place on June 7.

Follow me on Twitter @thekantastic

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