Ontario Premier Doug Ford says longtime Mississauga, Ont., mayor Hazel McCallion, who led one of Canada's largest cities for 36 years, has died. She was 101.
Ford says McCallion died peacefully at her home in Mississauga early Sunday morning.
Ford says McCallion, who he called a ``dear friend and mentor,'' was the definition of a public servant, having led the transformation of the city west of Toronto into a major urban centre.
He says the city of Mississauga and the province of Ontario are better places because of McCallion's service.
Known affectionately as ``Hurricane Hazel,'' Mississauga's longest-serving mayor was an outspoken political powerhouse.
She garnered more than 90 per cent of the mayoral vote several terms in a row despite not campaigning for decades, instead asking those who wanted to make a donation to her campaign to instead give the money to a charity or a cultural fund.