The city of Mississauga got an official flower yesterday, and surprise, surprise, it is named after Mayor Hazel McCallion.
Mississauga council decided unanimously that the Hazel McCallion rose - a pink mini-floribunda with shades of soft white on the petals and a mild fragrance - will be the city's official flower.
The honour was the outcome of a decision by the Mississauga Board of Trade not to follow the usual route of commissioning a painting or a statue, but to honour Ms. McCallion, first elected the city's mayor in 1978, with something that would be a "really living and lasting tribute," board president Sheryl McKean said in an interview.
She said that, after a search, the board discovered that Hortico Nurseries in Waterdown had some new, unnamed roses that were about to go into commercial production.
The board picked one that it felt would be an appropriate reminder of the mayor - pink is her favourite colour and the 24-inch-high plant "is very sturdy, very strong" - and shelled out more than $10,000 for the international naming rights.
Only about 200 Hazel McCallion roses will be available next year, but it will be widely available in 2009, Ms. McKean said.
It will be sold for $19.95 and the Board of Trade will get a percentage of the proceeds, which it plans to donate to Hazel's Hope, an international charity named after the mayor that supports a home in Tanzania for children with HIV-AIDS, Ms. McKean added.
There was an amusing side to the council debate on the motion to make the Hazel McCallion rose the city flower.
Ms. McCallion recused herself, as she had a personal interest in the matter, and left the room.
After the motion passed, no one thought to call the mayor back, and council went on with without her, Ms. McKean said.
When someone remembered an hour later to tell the mayor she could return, Ms. McCallion came back and told council that of the all the tributes that she had received in her long career, "this is the best one," Ms. McKean said.