At age 96 Hazel McCallion won’t make New Year’s resolutions — but that is not because she has life all figured out.

“I do resolutions for every day,” says McCallion, whose schedule is only slightly less hectic than when she was mayor of Mississauga.

“When you go to bed at night you should make a list of what you want to accomplish. Then I tick them off. Some I never get around to but, if you get up in the morning and don’t know what you are going to do that day, you don’t accomplish much.”

Wearing a Christmas red blazer and festive brooch, McCallion urges seniors at The Beechwood retirement residence in Mississauga to have “a life of purpose.” She has for two years been “chief elder officer” for Revera Inc., the seniors’ accommodation and care company.

She spends every Tuesday at one of the firm’s homes across Ontario, chatting with residents, meeting privately with some, and reporting back to head office. This time of year means holiday parties. She recently surprised revelers at an Etobicoke home by dancing, in a Santa hat, with the jolly old elf himself before hustling off to another party.

McCallion, who retired from politics in 2014 after 36 years as mayor, still wears many hats.

She is chancellor of Sheridan College, sits on the boards of three companies, was named to the board of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority and has advised Premier Kathleen Wynne on urban issues. Two or three times a week she visits her office at the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association, an organization long championed by the onetime pro who in the 1940s earned $5 a game playing on a Montreal women’s team.

She is sought for appearances and speeches, including an “Ageing Well Revolution” conference last month that required a 21-hour trip to Adelaide, Australia. She shortened the flight home by visiting a friend in the Azores region of Portugal. Last year she was in China.

At The Beechwood, she asks a couch full of seniors if they saw news reports about the most popular children’s names for 2017. She notes her mother gave her siblings two names but, as the youngest, she got Hazel Mary Muriel. Her mother hated her own first name, Amanda. “Better than Hortense!” a woman says to nods and chuckles.

Was the Christmas party here good? McCallion asks them. What about the band? “Did you sing?,” she asks. “I tell them ‘Get the people singing. Don’t just have people sing to them – get the residents singing!”

McCallion, who will turn 97 on Valentine’s Day, advises seniors to view life as a “multitude of stages.”

“Your attitude toward changes is so important,” she says. “I encourage them to be independent – just because you’re in a home like this, don’t stop doing things for yourself.”

McCallion often tells residents they are better living communally than isolated in a house. But she lives in her own house, alone but for Missy, her German shepherd. She gardens and shovels the walk, but not the big driveway. She drives herself to local events but accepts limousine rides to those further afield.

The former politician doesn’t miss controversy, but does miss solving problemns with talented city staffers.

McCallion won’t be drawn into local issues but is watching a war of words between Mississauga and the airport authority over plans to build a multibillion dollar transit hub near the airport. “Maybe I can be of some assistance to them,” she says. “The airport is very important in Mississauga, at the same time it has some serious impacts. It’s a case of negotiating to get a more or less acceptable outcome for all.”

McCallion uses her bit of spare time to tackle the mountain of unexamined gifts and souvenirs she accumulated as mayor. Her goal for 2018 is to continue connecting, one way or another, with old friends, especially those who fell out of touch while she was so busy as mayor.

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“Hurricane Hazel”, as many have called her, says her energy level remains strong and, approaching a century of life, she has no plans to change.

“I don’t want to slow down,” McCallion says firmly. “If I slow down, I’ll get old.”

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