The snow-covered driveway and path to the front door of 52 Crosby Trail suggest no one has been on the property that overlooks Marion Island in the Ottawa River for several days.
“He’s not going to be there,” a neighbour on the isolated river side road said Wednesday, adding that the Liberal senator was there over the weekend.
Another neighbour said Harb is not a familiar face in the neighbourhood of La Passe.
“I’ve never seen him,” she said. “I’ve seen him on TV. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know what he looks like.”
Harb is one of three senators being audited over housing expenses amid questions about whether the locations of their primary residences entitle them to compensation.
The longtime Ottawa resident has claimed $36,338 in living expenses over the past two years for his secondary home in the city. His rural home is 145 kilometres from downtown Ottawa. The Senate requires that a primary residence be more than 100 kilometres from the city to qualify for National Capital living expenses.
The Liberal senator also claimed $13,025 in travel expenses from his primary residence to Ottawa in the same 24-month period, ending Nov. 30, 2012.
Two Conservative-appointed senators are also being scrutinized over their housing declarations — Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau, who was recently removed from caucus and has been put on a leave of absence from the Senate after he was charged with assault and sexual assault.
The auditing firm Deloitte was hired to review the three cases even as a Senate committee tasked with probing expense claims has ordered all members of the Upper Chamber to provide copies of their drivers’ licences, provincial health cards and pages from their income tax returns to prove their primary addresses.
Harb owns several properties in Ottawa, including a condo near Hog’s Back that he has used as his mailing address in legal documents.
Harb did not respond to phone calls this week seeking comment. His office also was not immediately able to respond Thursday to requests for a list of his official activities in Pembroke or for the number of days he spent in that community.
The owner of a variety store a few kilometres away from Harb’s home in La Passe — the closest place to buy gas or food — said he didn’t know Harb owned property in the neighbourhood until he read about the controversy in the newspaper.
“I’ve never seen the man,” he said.
The same response was given for the next closest store and gas station.
Over at the Beachburg Family Restaurant, a community gathering spot about 15 kilometres away, the lunch crowd passed around Harb’s photo and shrugged. One man put on his glasses to get a clear look, then shook his head.
“I never knew that a senator lived here,” one man said.
“Sounds like a cottage,” said another.
Residents said there’s a mix of year-round and seasonal homes in the area.
While there was an even mound of snow on the Crosby Trail property, the path to Harb’s home appears to have been shovelled more recently.
Harb was born in Lebanon but has a long history in Ottawa. He has two degrees from the University of Ottawa, worked as an engineer for Northern Telecom and taught at Algonquin College. He was an alderman and deputy mayor in pre-amalgamation Ottawa before being elected as a Liberal MP in Ottawa Centre.
Harb was appointed to the Senate in 2003 on the advice of then-prime minister Jean Chrétien.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Chloe Fedio
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