Editing Mac Harb

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
| name             = Mac Harb
| honorific-suffix = 
| image            =
| imagesize        = 
| office           = [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for [[Ontario]]
| appointed        = [[Jean Chrétien]]
| predecessor      =
| successor        = 
| term_start       = September 9, 2003
| term_end         = August 26, 2013
| office2          = [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|MP]] for [[Ottawa Centre (federal electoral district)|Ottawa Centre]]
| term_start2      = November 21, 1988
| term_end2        = September 8, 2003
| predecessor2     = [[Michael Cassidy (Canadian politician)|Michael Cassidy]]
| successor2       = [[Ed Broadbent]]
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1953|11|10}}
| birth_place      = Chaat, [[Lebanon]]
| death_date       =
| death_place      =
| nationality      = [[Canadians|Canadian]]
| spouse           =
| party            = Independent (May 10, 2013-August 26, 2013)<br />Liberal Party of Canada (September 9, 2003-May 9, 2013)
| otherparty       = 
| relations        =
| children         =
| residence        =
| alma_mater       = 
| occupation       = Politician, engineer, professor
| profession       =
| cabinet          = 
| committees       =
| portfolio        = 
| signature        =
| website          =
| footnotes        =
}}
'''Mac Harb''' (born November 10, 1953) is a former Canadian politician, who served successively in local [[Ottawa]] positions, as a [[House of Commons of Canada|Member of the House of Commons]], and as a [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] for [[Ontario]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/SiteInformation/parlinfoMoved|title=ParlInfo Has Moved|website=lop.parl.ca}}</ref><ref name="J. Patrick Boyer">J. Patrick Boyer. ''Our Scandalous Senate'' Volume 1 of Point of View. Dundurn, 2014. chapter 3; pp. 58 to 60.
{{ISBN|9781459723672}}.</ref> He resigned his seat as [[Senate of Canada|Senator]] in 2013 amidst the [[Canadian Senate expenses scandal]].<ref name="Senate scandal: Mac Harb resigns"/>

== 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.<ref name="J. Patrick Boyer"/>

He was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1988 Canadian federal election|1988 federal election]] as the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Ottawa Centre (federal electoral district)|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.<ref name="J. Patrick Boyer"/>

In September 2003, Harb was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]] on Chrétien's recommendation.<ref name="J. Patrick Boyer"/>

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. No senator seconded his motion to introduce the bill, something that other senators could not recall happening in over two decades.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seal hunt ban gets icy reception in Senate |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/seal-hunt-ban-gets-icy-reception-in-senate-1.810771 |publisher=CBCNews |access-date=May 7, 2013}}</ref> 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. [[People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals|PETA]] subsequently honoured him as their "Canadian Person of the Year".<ref name="J. Patrick Boyer"/><ref>{{cite web |author=Robin Levinson |url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/Harb+accepts+PETA+award+efforts+stop+inhumanity+seal+hunt/7749716/story.html |title=Harb accepts PETA award for his efforts to stop 'inhumanity' of the seal hunt |work=Ottawa Citizen |date=December 27, 2012}}</ref>

== Local Ottawa politics ==

After the [[1991 Ottawa municipal election]], Harb, who was a Liberal MP and had supported fiscally conservative, pro-business candidate [[Jacquelin Holzman]], admitted to "quietly encourag[ing]" [[Marc Laviolette]] to enter the race to split the vote, because he "couldn't stomach Smith's left-wing social agenda" and the thought of [[Nancy Smith (politician)|Nancy Smith]] winning.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-ottawa-citizen/127038045/ | title=Article clipped from the Ottawa Citizen | newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen | date=30 November 1991 | page=1 }}</ref>

== Senate expense scandal ==
{{Main|Canadian Senate expenses scandal}}

On December 6, 2012, Harb was named in relation to the [[Canadian Senate expenses scandal]] due to expenses for a property in [[Pembroke, Ontario]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/568714/a-look-at-key-dates-in-the-evolution-of-the-senate-expense-claim-controversy/|title=Timeline: Key dates in the evolution of the Senate expense-claim controversy &#124; Globalnews.ca|website=Global News}}</ref> In May 2013, the Senate Internal Economy Committee found that 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.<ref name="Harb repays $51K ">{{cite web | url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/senator-mac-harb-repays-51k-in-expenses-1.1407975?cmp=rss | title=Senator Mac Harb repays $51K in expenses | publisher=CBC | date=4 July 2013 | access-date=15 July 2013}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Harb repays $51K " /> Harb 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.<ref name="Harb repays $51K " /> 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.<ref name="Senate scandal: Mac Harb resigns">{{cite web | url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/08/26/senate_scandal_mac_harb_resigns.html | title=Senate scandal: Mac Harb resigns | publisher=Toronto Star | date=26 August 2013 | access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> In February 2014, Harb was charged with fraud and breach of trust in connection with these expense claims.<ref name="Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau charged with fraud in Senate scandal ">{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/mac-harb-patrick-brazeau-face-fraud-related-charges-in-senate-scandal/article16680901/ | title=Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau charged with fraud in Senate scandal | work=[[CBC News]] | date=4 February 2016 | access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref> Those charges were later withdrawn by the Crown in May 2016, after the acquittal of Senator [[Mike Duffy]] on his own expense-related criminal charges.<ref name="Criminal charges dropped against former senator Mac Harb ">{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/criminal-charges-dropped-against-former-senator-mac-harb/article30104970/ | title=Criminal charges dropped against former senator Mac Harb | publisher=CBC | date=20 May 2016 | access-date=29 March 2017}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=14717}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090310090706/http://www.liberalsenateforum.ca/Senator/harbm Liberal Senate Forum]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harb, Mac}}
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:Canadian engineers]]
[[Category:Canadian senators from Ontario]]
[[Category:Lebanese emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada senators]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario]]
[[Category:Ottawa city councillors]]
[[Category:University of Ottawa alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Lebanese descent]]
[[Category:Ottawa-Carleton regional councillors]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the Senate of Canada]]