Mayor Hazel McCallion of Mississauga has announced she will seek a twelfth term in office.
"I'm quite excited. At 2 o'clock today, I registered," she said to the cheers of supporters at a Wednesday news conference in Streetsville.
"It was a matter of formality, because for many months, I had been saying to the people of Mississauga that I was going to offer myself to them for another four years."
McCallion said she has many plans for the future, and these will require a "strong, stable team -- working together with the dedicated staff that we have at the city -- to make things happen."
Mississauga residents will go to the polls on October 25 to elect their mayor, city councillors and school board trustees.
"I am asking the citizens of Mississauga that when they mark their ballot … that they support candidates who are prepared to work as a team with the mayor to put the many plans we have into operation," McCallion said.
One of Canada's longest-serving mayors, the 89-year-old was easily re-elected in November 2006 with a 92 per cent majority of votes. She has been the mayor of Mississauga for 32 years.
In 2005, she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. U.S. television personality Regis Philbin came to Mississauga in November 2008 to help McCallion celebrate three decades in office.
While the city of 700,000 just west of Toronto is debt-free, some controversy is currently tainting McCallion.
A judicial inquiry called by city council in 2009 is examining how involved McCallion was with her son Peter, who held a stake in a company that was seeking to build a $1.5-billion complex near city hall. It would contain a hotel, condominiums and a convention centre.
McCallion has said she supported the project because it would be good for the city.
According to the Toronto Star, McCallion has said through her lawyer that she didn't know Peter had an ownership stake in the firm. However, she had witnessed a trust agreement signed in 2007 by her son and a business partner.
The mayor focused on the positive aspects of her legacy, noting that more people now come to work in Mississauga than who leave during the day and that post-secondary educational opportunities have expanded.
"We've had troubles over the last couple of years. We've had negative position in the press," McCallion said.
"All councillors and the mayor were called a bunch of drunken sailors. I don't know how you can become debt-free and be a bunch of drunken sailors," she said.
That type of situation "has to be eliminated by this election," McCallion said.
She believed there were some new candidates for council that would put the city first, "and not let their desire for position get in their way."
McCallion didn't name any names, but one prominent who supported the judicial inquiry was Coun. Carolyn Parrish (Ward 6), a former Liberal MP.
