Former Calgary councillor Joe Magliocca gets house arrest and curfew for expenses fraud
For the first two months, Magliocca will be under house-arrest conditions. After that, he will be bound by a curfew.
Before Justice Gord Wong delivered his decision Thursday afternoon, Magliocca apologized in court for submitting the false claims.
"My biggest regret is I am no longer able to serve the citizens of Calgary," said the former councillor. "I hope that the court and the public will not judge me just for this incident."
'A drop in the ocean'
Sentencing arguments took place earlier Thursday. Prosecutor Aaron Rankin proposed an 18- to 24-month conditional sentence order or three to six months in jail.
A conditional sentence order is a sentence that an offender is allowed to serve at home, in the community, under conditions.
Defence lawyer Peter Sankoff asked the judge to consider a six-month conditional sentence order.
"In terms of the ocean of misconduct by politicians, this is a drop in that ocean," said Sankoff.
"Any period of incarceration would be disproportionate."
While Sankoff said he wasn't trying to argue the City of Calgary is better off after the Magliocca expense scandal, he did point out the city has "a much more robust expense process and governance structure."
'Premeditated dishonesty'
The defence lawyer also pointed out that Magliocca paid all of his expense claim discrepancies and lost his seat in the 2021 municipal election that took place 10 days after he was charged.
"Mr. Magliocca paid. He paid the way officials pay, just like the Liberals got kicked out of office after the sponsorship scandal. Mr. Magliocca was kicked out of office, he lost his elected position," said Sankoff.
Rankin said he likely wouldn't have proposed a jail sentence "if it were not for the evidence for the degree of premeditated dishonesty."
During the trial, the judge heard that Magliocca obtained business cards from political attendees of conferences and then added their names to his expense claims.
"There's a high degree of trust involved in that system, which was not honoured in this case," said Rankin.
Parade of politicians testified
As part of his sentencing submissions, Sankoff submitted 10 letters of support for his client, including from the mayor of Airdrie and former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis.
In January, Justice Wong convicted Magliocca of fraud under $5,000 but acquitted him on a charge of breach of trust.
During the trial, Wong heard evidence that between 2017 and 2019, Magliocca attended several meetings as part of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conferences for which he was the City of Calgary's representative.
Prosecutor Rankin called about two dozen current and former politicians to testify, including former Halifax mayor Mike Savage, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, Quebec cabinet minister Jonatan Julien and former Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson.
'Personal holiday' expensed
Wong found that Magliocca added the names of various politicians from across Canada, most of whom Magliocca met at conferences, to receipts so he could claim he had dined with them.
This allowed Magliocca to be reimbursed for the cost of meals and alcohol that otherwise wouldn't have been covered by the city.
Wong ruled Magliocca's actions were "not simply a mistake or error" and said the former Ward 2 councillor "knowingly provided false information in expense claims and knew he stood to benefit."
On top of the hosting frauds, Wong also found Magliocca falsified a receipt related to a hotel bill for a "personal holiday he expensed to the city."
An audit and subsequent police investigation were triggered after reporting in 2020 by the Calgary Herald showed Magliocca expensed about double what other councillors claimed for their trips to the FCM conference in Quebec City.
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