Retired Hazel McCallion was not the longest-running Canadian mayor

When one considers the matter of Canada’s longest-serving city leaders, the name that jumps immediately to mind is Hazel McCallion, the recently-retired 93-year-old mayor of Mississauga, Ont.

McCallion, who has won 12 straight elections before stepping down ahead of the Oct. 27 municipal election, is actually not Canada’s longest-serving mayor. But you shouldn’t be blamed for thinking it, considering how Canadian media and international news groups alike have celebrated McCallion’s 36-year reign.

McCallion’s career was celebrated at a weekend gala, at which former prime minister Jean Chretien thanked her for dedicating her life to proving “how noble is the public service.”

As impressive as McCallion’s run was, however, she was nowhere near Canada’s longest-serving mayor. “Hurricane Hazel,” as she is known, was Canada’s oldest active mayor and a local colossus, but longest-serving city leader she was not.

That honour appears to be held by John Hamlyn, the 82-year-old mayor of Crow Head, Newfoundland. Hamlyn has been the mayor of the small community since 1963. This year marks his 51st year as town mayor.

In the past, Hamlyn has appeared nonplussed about being overlooked as Canada’s longest-serving mayor. Summerside is a community of some 250 people, where council members have, in the past, won elections by acclamation.

"I started when I was quite young," Hamlyn told CBC News last year. “It’s just something that you thought, in those early days, maybe you had some extra time you could serve your community, and serve the people well.

"It started out to be a one term, and naturally, you enjoy it."

Collecting the details of mayoral longevity in Canada is a difficult task. For one, there are hundreds of mayor-led cities and towns across the country, and dozens more hamlets and other regions that bow to reeves or other council heads.

For another, the compilation of municipal governments tend to be a provincial matter, creating a scatter shot approach to confirming which mayoral reign is indeed the longest.

But McCallion and Hamlyn are certainly not the only silver-haired mayors in the mix.

Summerside, P.E.I., has been governed for 29 years by Mayor Basil Stewart, who was first elected in 1985 and announced this month that he would run for one final term.

Milton Mayor Gord Krantz is also seeking re-election this October in the hopes of extending his 34-year run as mayor of that Ontario community.

“I never get tired of being mayor. There’s an old cliché, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. I’d like to think I’ve demonstrated I’m up to the challenges all the time,” Kratz recently told Inside Halton.

There have been a few other contenders that have come to a recent conclusion. Johnnie Doonanco led the Albertan community of Glendon for 39 years before he was defeated in the 2010 election.

Another long-standing mayoralty ended in 2013, when Westport, Ont., mayor Bill Thake died of a stroke. Thake, 77 years old at the time, was in his 44th year as the head of the town council when he passed away.

So why does McCallion get the credit for her decades of service? There are a few reasons her career garners international acclaim while others go unnoticed.

Her 36 years in office is certainly nothing to sniff at, but McCallion’s legacy rests more notably on her age – at 93 at the time of her resignation,she was most certainly Canada’s oldest sitting city leader.

And unlike other Canadian municipalities with decades-long mayoralties, Mississauga is a city with more than 700,000 residents – considered Canada’s sixth-largest city. And at her peak, McCallion was receiving as much as 91 per cent of the vote on Election Day.

In May, McCallion spoke with Yahoo Canada’s Andy Radia about her longevity, saying her secret was to work hard and be honest with her citizens.

"[I’m most proud of] building a city for people. Taking it from a rural bedroom community into a self-sustained city," McCallion said at the time. "When I look at the city core that was a hay field when I was elected mayor. There’s a lot of satisfaction when you see what’s happening."

With McCallion stepping down, it appears the title of Canada’s oldest mayor now goes to Ron Eddy, the 83-year-old leader of Brant, Ont. If he wins re-election in October, he’ll be 87 at the end of his next term. He’s just eight months older than Hamlyn.

Yahoo Canada News reached out to Hamlyn for comment. A city official said he was busy in meetings through the afternoon.