‘Shape your future’, McCallion tells age-friendly conference

Former Mississauga mayor keynote speaker at Celebrating Age-Friendly Niagara event… told those at the Celebrating Age-Friendly Niagara that aging successfully requires planning. She said that as chief elder officer at Revera Living and Long Term Care she encourages residents to stay active and continue volunteering.

June 21, 2017

THOROLD — Hazel McCallion is many things: the former mayor of Canada’s sixth-largest city under whose tenure the formerly sleepy Toronto suburb nearly doubled in size.

She’s often referred to as “Hurricane Hazel” for her outspoken, no-nonsense political style.

And, as a woman who was first elected in 1970, she’s a pioneer.

Just don’t call her retired.

Despite leaving politics in 2014, McCallion does not use the ‘R’ word when describing herself.

“I didn’t retire,” she said to a packed crowd at Amici’s Banquet and Convention Centre for the Celebrating Age-Friendly Niagara conference. “I left my job.”

Indeed, McCallion is extremely active. She’s a special adviser to the Mississauga campus of the University of Toronto and a chancellor for Sheridan College, and she’s been hired on as the CEO (chief elder officer) at Revera, a major operator of senior accommodations.

For McCallion, retirement is merely a shift in careers.

“You just change jobs, and that’s all you’ve been doing all your life,” she said.

McCallion said when she speaks to residents at Revera, she advises them to stay active. A generation raised with a strong sense of volunteerism, these residents ought to continue giving back, she said, as it’s a way of maintaining independence and fitness.

Source: Niagara This Week