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Mac Harb

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gallus Meg (talk | contribs) at 04:43, 30 May 2017 (Mr Harb himself appears to be continuously trying to edit this page. Others have removed his full name, which is sourced to a legal charging document by the Ontario police. That it does not appear to be common usage does not change his legal name.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Honourable
Mahmoud "Mac" Harb
Senator for Ontario
In office
September 9, 2003 – August 26, 2013
Appointed byJean Chrétien
MP for Ottawa Centre
In office
November 21, 1988 – September 8, 2003
Preceded byMichael Cassidy
Succeeded byEd Broadbent
Personal details
Born (1953-11-10) November 10, 1953 (age 71)
Chaat, Lebanon
NationalityCanadian
Political partyIndependent (May 10, 2013-August 26, 2013)
Liberal Party of Canada (September 9, 2003-May 9, 2013)
OccupationPolitician, engineer, professor

Mahmoud "Mac" Harb'[1] (born November 10, 1953) is a Lebanese-Canadian politician, who served successively in local Ottawa positions, as a Member of the House of Commons, and as a Senator for Ontario.[2][3] He resigned his seat as Senator in 2013 amidst the Canadian Senate expenses scandal.[4]

Life and career

Harb was born in Chaat, Lebanon, and emigrated to Canada to study at the University of Ottawa in 1973. He subsequently worked as an engineer at Northern Telecom and a professor at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Harb was elected to Ottawa City Council in 1985 and served as deputy mayor in 1987 and 1988.[3]

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1988 federal election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Ottawa Centre. He supported Jean Chrétien's bid to succeed John Turner as leader of the Liberal Party in 1990, and remained a Chrétien loyalist throughout his career as an MP.[3]

In September 2003, Harb was appointed to the Canadian Senate on Chrétien's recommendation.[3]

In March 2009, Harb attempted to introduce a bill that would have limited the East Coast seal hunt to only those with aboriginal treaty rights.[5] He also attempted to introduce a bill in June 2011 that would outlaw commercial seal hunting, and had introduced a third bill against the seal hunt in May 2012. PETA subsequently honoured him as their "Canadian Person of the Year".[3][6]

Senate expense scandal

Main article: Canadian Senate expenses scandal

On December 6, 2012, Mac Harb was named in relation to the Canadian Senate expenses scandal due to expenses for a property in Pembroke, Ontario.[7] In May 2013, the Senate Internal Economy Committee found that Mac Harb had incorrectly claimed $51,482.92 of living and travel expenses and ordered him to repay it, which was done by July 5, 2013.[8] The committee had earlier advised Harb to repay $231,000 of claimed expenses dating back to 2005 to avoid an extensive audit into his finances.Cite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page). An audit was done by Deloitte a leading Canadian accounting firm. Sen Harb cooperated fully with the auditors and provided complete documentation to support his travel allowance claims. The auditors found no basis to conclude there was fraud or attempt to defraud on Harb's part. <http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/698748-deloitte-senator-harb-report-2013-05-09.html/>. Harb repaid the disputed amount, but stated that his repayment was done "under protest" since he intended to challenge the validity of the committee's findings in the Ontario Divisional Court.> On August 26, 2013, he repaid a further $180,166.17, for a total reimbursement of $231,649.07, after which he resigned his Senate seat.[4] In February, 2014, Harb was criminally charged with fraud and breach of trust in connection with these expense claims.[9] In May 2016, those charges were withdrawn by the Crown, following the acquittal of Senator Mike Duffy on his own expense-related criminal charges.[10]

References

  1. ^ http://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.1384168!/httpFile/file.pdf
  2. ^ http://www.lop.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=4F96C1BC-512C-4A39-B653-DA4A175E6426&Language=E&Section=ALL
  3. ^ a b c d e J. Patrick Boyer. Our Scandalous Senate Volume 1 of Point of View. Dundurn, 2014. chapter 3; pages 58 to 60. ISBN 9781459723672.
  4. ^ a b "Senate scandal: Mac Harb resigns". Toronto Star. August 26, 2013. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  5. ^ "Seal hunt ban gets icy reception in Senate". CBCNews. Retrieved May 7, 2013.
  6. ^ Robin Levinson (December 27, 2012). "Harb accepts PETA award for his efforts to stop 'inhumanity' of the seal hunt". Ottawa Citizen.
  7. ^ Timeline: Key dates in the evolution of the Senate expense-claim controversy
  8. ^ "Senator Mac Harb repays $51K in expenses". CBC. July 4, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2013.
  9. ^ "Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau charged with fraud in Senate scandal". CBC. February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  10. ^ "Criminal charges dropped against former senator Mac Harb". CBC. May 20, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
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