Scanned, recopied or Internet copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections: Opening comments: More at the end. Apr. 23 - 1982 - Toronto Sun - By John Downing Mississauga gold rush The weeks slip away before the next municipal elections but a judge has yet to deal with the conflict of interest charge that could bring dramatic change to the Mississauga election. It will be June at least before Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion gets her day in country court to answer the complaint of former council colleague Jack Graham that she may have contravened the municipal conflict of interest act when her council started the approval process last November for 26,000 houses and apartment units. Graham, a Mississauga lawyer, asks the judge to throw McCallion out of office and disqualify her from holding a position on any council or urban agency for up to seven years. On Nov. 2, council approved 10 areas in five neighborhoods for development after a long, costly study by two task forces, the last one composed of officials from the city, region, school board and hydro commission. However, council didn’t follow all the recommendations of these officials. There was controversy surrounding the report since the officials worried about the city’s ability to finance the services such enormous growth requires. One area given approval by council but not by the last task force is East Credit. This is also the area where McCallion and her husband Samuel have owned a house and five acres since 1951, purchased for $14,000. Under the motion approved by council, 2,918 detached houses, 92 townhouses and 338 apartment units can be built in East Credit. Mississauga is no stranger to development pressures which have caused the price of serviced land there to soar. The value of the 1,013 acres released by council for development in East Credit - the area not recommended by staff - is at least $50 million. Mississauga has boomed from an expanse of sleepy farms and quiet dormitory communities to the fastest-growing city in the country. It has grown 26% in the last five years to become ninth among Canada’s cities. Its 315,056 people make it larger than Ottawa and Hamilton. And McCallion has been very much part of this explosion, gaining a national reputation as a stubborn, formidable leader who always does her own thing whether the problem was the derailment crisis, heading a province-wide urban lobby or the seven days a week work running Mississauga. She is a veteran councillor, having served since the 1960's. She had no opposition when she ran for a second mayoralty term in the last election. As proof of the support she enjoys in her community, eight councillors and three senior officials rallied to her in this case by filing affidavits with the Peel County Court. The court also has a number of examinations for discovery, including a cross examination of McCallion by John Laskin acting for Graham. The mayor was asked if she had an interest in any company or partnership that has any interest in Mississauga property, whether she was familiar with Macran Associates ltd., whether she was a Macran director, whether she knew a “Mr. Randles”, whether “Randles” was a Macran director, whether Macran has Mississauga property and whether she owned property outside Mississauga? Her lawyer, J.L. Finlay, instructed her not to answer. The latest record on Macran filed with the consumer and commercial relations ministry shows it is a company with a Mississauga address formed for the purpose of “development and property management”. McCallion, her husband, and Allan and Agnes Randles are listed as directors of the company from the date of incorporation on March 14, 1974. Allan Randles was appointed in 1974 by Mississauga council to its committee of adjustment and the Peel land division committee. He was reappointed for two terms. On Dec. 23, 1981, he was reappointed to the committee of adjustment, a body that deals with minor zoning changes, with McCallion declaring a conflict of interest. Records in the Peel Registry Office show that Markborough Properties Ltd., sold 2.6 acres of vacant industrial land in Mississauga on Jan. 30, 1974, to Peter McCallion-in-trust, the mayor’s son. The price was $79,740. According to the same records, the land was conveyed to Macran on April 9, 1974, for $2. Macran sold the parcel for $212,640 on Sept. 13, 1974, to Tleg Investments Ltd., Elto Investments Ltd., and Strongway Construction Ltd. The price had increased $132,900 in seven months in Mississauga’s giddy gold rush for real estate. Home Page - Main Table of Contents - Back up a page - Back to Top [COMMENTS BY DON B. - ] |
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