Peter McCallion says he’ll bring together members of the business community to draft a bid for
Mississauga’s very own NHL team as the new mayor of Mississauga.
McCallion is running for mayor in the city’s byelection scheduled for June 10, 2024. The byelection was called after the resignation former Mayor Bonnie Crombie, who is now leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario.
“It’s time to get a team of our own,” said McCallion. “Mississauga is no longer the little brother or sister of Toronto. It’s an idea whose time has come”
McCallion was holding hockey pucks branded with the name “Mississauga Hurricanes”, an homage to his late mother Hazel McCallion, who was often referred to as “Hurricane Hazel”. The older McCallion was a champion for women’s hockey and played well into her 90’s.
“Our city can support a team and we are hockey crazy. My vision is to have both an NHL and a PWHL team. Mississauga has more population now than when Toronto got its NHL team,” said McCallion.
“A Toronto/Mississauga rivalry would keep a lot of the sports entertainment dollars in the GTA.
I know there are a lot of hurdles, but Mississauga needs bold vision and new ideas “
McCallion explained his vision for a new community built around an arena, “The cost of an arena will not be paid for by taxpayers but instead by the private sector. An arena should be integrated into a large scale mixed use development of residential, retail, and commercial space. We have a housing shortage in Mississauga and housing affordability is the number one issue,” continued McCallion. “Just look at what has been built around the Scotiabank arena and you get an idea of how mixed land use can be integrated to develop a complete community.”
An ideal location near highways, transit and other infrastructure would create an ecosystem that would create jobs, housing, and tax revenue for the City of Mississauga to reduce the property tax burden on existing homeowners. McCallion would use the recently bestowed “Strong Mayor” powers to get shovels in the ground faster.