Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is uniquely positioned to opine on the recent turmoil in Egypt, where ardent protests just recently forced the president to resign and allowed democracy to, hopefully, flourish.

The political stalwart, who turns 90 on Monday, is, after all, the only standing Canadian civic leader who was in power when Mubarak's regime took the reins in Cairo almost 30 years ago.

McCallion has been re-elected 11 times since she became mayor in 1978, each time by acclamation or by a wide margin of support. And all through actual democratic elections, no less.

"You've got to consult the people. You are a representative of the people. You may not be able to do everything they ask, but you certainly have to give them the chance to voice their opinion. Excellent suggestions come forward," McCallion told ctvtoronto.ca in an interview this week.

"When you get the people involved, they buy into your programs. They feel connected in a major way. And that is not happening in Egypt. The people unfortunately have to demonstrate. They are not given the opportunity to voice their opinion."

Perhaps Mubarak, exiled this week at the age of 82, should listen to his elders.

On Monday, McCallion will turn 90 years old and become quite likely the only Canadian mayor to serve into her ninth decade.

She shrugs off the suggestion, crediting good health and the people's will for her longstanding success.

"I'm sure there are other people who could have served until they were 90 if their health was in good shape. My health has luckily been in good shape," McCallion said.

Sheridan College will host a black-tie birthday celebration for McCallion Saturday night. Tickets sold for $350 a piece, with the money going to support the construction of the new campus in Mississauga.

She will celebrate her actual birthday at a party put on by city staff – paid for by them and not from city coffers, she is quick to note.

Born in the Gaspe Peninsula town of Port Daniel, Que. in 1921, McCallion moved to Ontario for work. She joined civic politics in 1967 and has served as mayor of Mississauga since 1978.

In 33 years under her watch, Mississauga has grown from about 300,000 people to more than 700,000. It is now home to the head offices of 60 Fortune 500 companies, has worked its way out of debt and no longer views itself as simply a suburb of Toronto.

"I am proud of the fact that we have taken a bedroom community and turned it into a self-sustaining city, the sixth largest in Canada," she said. "We are building a city core that started in a hay field in the Town of Mississauga."

Chinks in McCallion's armour have only appeared recently. She won last fall's election with a mere 76 per cent of the vote, far less than the upwards of 90 per cent she has historically garnered.

The blip in her support is believed to have come due to opposition from on council and an inquiry which probed McCallion's alleged involvement in an ill-fated land deal between the city and her son, who was trying to build a downtown hotel.

McCallion touched on the inquiry, which concluded earlier this month, saying the absence of a convention centre and hotel in downtown Mississauga was her biggest regret as mayor.

"It was a dream and a vision of the council and the city to have a convention centre," McCallion said. "Being the sixth largest city in Canada and not having a convention centre when Windsor has one and London has one – and they are much smaller than we are – we lack a very vital asset that should be in our city core."

During her time as mayor, McCallion has met foreign leaders, politicians and celebrities, but it was the Queen Mother by which she was most moved.

"So humble, so down to earth," McCallion raved. "She exemplified what it was to be a wonderful human being, and she practised it. She demonstrated it by the way she operated as the Queen."

Royalty aside, one of her most buzzed-about relationships has been with daytime host Regis Philbin, who joined her in Mississauga when she celebrated her 30th year as mayor.

When McCallion was reelected last fall, Philbin held up a photograph of her on air and sang her praises.

Philbin announced he would be stepping away from his long-running show earlier this year. But despite being more than a decade older that Philbin, McCallion didn't chastise him for retiring young.

"That is entirely up to him. That is a decision that only an individual can make," she said.