Mississauga, a place initially developed as a suburb of Toronto but is now a bustling city
Mississauga, a place initially developed as a suburb of Toronto, is now a bustling city on its own. (Photo: DC)
Chennai: The pain of living through slow and indifferent development of one’s city gets accentuated further when he or she travels to another place and be shocked at the huge difference in the living standards of the people there. Which is what happened when I went to Toronto in Canada last month. The high point of that trip was my meeting with Hazal MacCallion, the mayor of Mississauga, a place initially developed as a suburb of Toronto but is now a bustling city on its own. Hazal is 93 but has the energy of a 20-year-old woman.
“I drive my own electric car, which gives me a little over 50 km on a single charge. I clean my house, take care of my garden, find time to swim and answer all the calls from people having any problem”, said the lady, looking puny in her large chamber on the third floor of the city’s majestic civic centre.
Among the many achievements on Hazal’s impressive scorecard is that Mississauga has been voted again as the safest city in the huge country of Canada. “We got this recognition for the 14th consecutive year. I feel proud and happy, but the credit should go to the people out there. I tell the people: you take charge of your community, be proactive, look after the kids, your place. Police will solve a crime but the citizen can prevent it”.
Looking out of the window at the impressive skyline of the city, Hazal recalled that it “was just one huge farmland of some 1000 horses grazing when I first took charge as the Mayor in 1978”. She said she was hugely satisfied “building a city that’s good”.
The administration conducted a public survey last year and her governance scored 87 per cent acceptability. “That’s pretty high; usually it’s about 50 per cent. I haven’t done much, actually; I made sure there are community facilities that the families enjoy, there are good schools, parks, baseball grounds, a good police force, things like that”. Perhaps because of such hard, and good, work, Hazal has been re-elected again and again. “I do not campaign, no speeches, no posters. My name is on the ballot paper, that’s all”.
What was the biggest challenge she has faced as mayor? “We evacuated 230,000 out of the population of 270,000 when a freight train derailed and the tank-car carrying chlorine exploded. The evacuation was done within a few days, even an entire hospital”. That happens to be the largest peacetime evacuation in North American history.
Hazel said she would retire on November 30, 2014 from the mayor’s office, she would get 2000 Canadian dollars as pension after that but there is a bigger responsibility waiting. She will be on a 23-member women’s committee that would help the federal government “determine the future of Canada”.
Her globetrotting includes 19 trips to China, the last one quite recent. “I celebrated my 80th birthday in a beautiful park in Delhi when Wipro hosted a big party for me”, she said, adding with a twinkle in the eyes: “Mayors in India are up there on the throne. I am down at ground level, with the people”.
( Source : dc )
Next Story
