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Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections:


Opening comments:  More at the end.


To the main Judicial Inquiry page - to the Hazel McCallion page.

Comments by others to this web-page 2.


Mississauga News - Aug. 28, 2009 - By ? jstewart@mississauga.net

Council needs change, critic says

A Toronto newspaper columnist has suggested limiting the service of municipal politicians to eight years in office, citing the lack of democratic renewal on Mississauga's city council.

In his column today in The Toronto Star, Christopher Hume notes that international critics have bemoaned the fact that the turnout in the election in Afghanistan this week was a meagre 30 per cent.

Hume notes that, in the last municipal election in Mississauga, in 2006, only 26 per cent of eligible voters managed to drag themselves to a polling station.

While 88-year-old Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is revered for her nearly 31 years as the head of the municipality, Hume writes that, "as brilliant as McCallion and her fellow council veterans may be, they have stifled several generations of potential leadership."

Change on Mississauga council comes in small doses over long periods of time.

Councillors Pat Mullin and Maja Prentice have served 24 years, Frank Dale and Nando Iannicca, 22 each, Councillors Katie Mahoney and Pat Saito 18 apiece and Councillor Carmen Corbasson 15 years.

"McCallion's longevity may be exceptional, but it's not unusual," said Hume.  "In councils everywhere, the quarter-century club keeps on growing and growing.  The power of incumbency, combined with widespread apathy, makes it all too easy for voters to resist the contempt bred by familiarity.
 Indifference makes the world go around."

Hume notes that municipal politicians possess serious power.

"Indeed, they are the ones whose work most affects our daily lives."

Given the importance of their work and the general apathy in municipal elections, the Star columnist and architectural critic concludes that, "given the dysfunctional state of civic politics, it's hard to imagine how a two-term limit, (eight years) say, could make things any worse."


Comments by others, 2, to this web-page;


The Mississauga Muse     Aug 28, 2009 3:56 PM

Riddle. What does the Town of Aurora have in common with the City of Mississauga? (cut-paste from Torstar)

Christopher Hume writes, "As brilliant as McCallion and her fellow council veterans may be". Question for Mr. Hume. What research did you do on McCallion and her fellow councillors’ brand of governance prior to proclaiming them “brilliant”? If the Toronto Star filed Freedom of Information, it would confirm that a good part of their "brilliant" governance is the degree to which they put the comfort, convenience and rights of City employees over the interests of citizens and especially Youth. Be that their annual cutting of services (while guaranteeing increased employee salaries with each new contract) to McCallion and her eleven Councillors rubber-stamping important reports, policies, by-laws that Staff set before them --often without any understanding/caring of implications. True democracy demands an informed citizenry. Unfortunately, Municipal Incumbents’ longevity is primarily ensured by the degree to which Traditional Media have become little more than a funnel for city hall spin.


Uatu     Aug 28, 2009 1:02 PM

Fat chance

The last time the Municipal Act was changed, the Province dutifully handed the AMO everything they wished for, including FOUR YEAR TERMS! Perhaps some enterprising reporter/columnist could employ the Freedom of Information Act and shed some light on how that unholy deal was reached. (Hahaha, I'm so funny sometimes...)

* Agree 2



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