By Yonatan Lew
Centretown could be without an MP until as late as next spring.
But former Ottawa Centre Liberal Mac Harb, who was appointed to the Senate Sept. 9, says he won’t abandon the riding he represented for 15 years.
While he’s learning the ropes in the upper chamber, Harb says he plans to stay in close contact with the Ottawa Centre office and his former constituents.
“I think it would be a free bonus for Ottawa Centre to have a senator and a member of Parliament for the price of one,” says Harb.
The prime minister must call a byelection within six months of an MP’s resignation, which makes March the deadline for this by-election call.
That’s well after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has said he plans to hand power to Liberal leader-in-waiting Paul Martin.
There are rumours Chrétien will leave the responsibility of calling an Ottawa Centre byelection to Martin.
The earliest day the byelection could be held is Oct. 27.
But Doug Secord, an administrator for the riding, says he doesn’t expect a byelection to be called at all. Secord predicts that when Martin succeeds Chrétien, the new leader will almost immediately call a general election.
“It costs, I think, $50, 000 to run a byelection,” says Secord. “I don’t think the expense could be justified that close to a general election.”
Still, NDP Leader Jack Layton, who denies rumours he will run in the riding, says leaving Ottawa Centre without a voice in Parliament for that long is ridiculous.
“Harb should pay for it out of his $4.1-million gift,” Layton says, referring to the salary Harb, 49, will collect if he stays in the Upper Chamber until the mandatory retirement age of 75.
But Harb maintains scheduled parliamentary recesses for most of December and January mean Ottawa Centre residents won’t be without a representative in the House for long.
“For 12 weeks Ottawa Centre would not have a member sitting in the House, but nonetheless (I) would be sitting in the Senate,” says Harb.
The prime minister’s office declined comment, saying only that it is the prime minister’s prerogative to decide the date of an election.
Although a byelection has yet to be called, the major players in the Ottawa Centre riding are already making themselves known.
Richard Mahoney, who hopes to win the Liberal nomination, has been the most outspoken of all the candidates.said to be innterested in running.
“We want to change the way politics are done here, to make it much more of an open and participatory process,” Mahoney says.
Mahoney, a long-time supporter of the former finance minister, will likely face stiff competition for the Liberal nomination.
Rumoured to be in the running is Penny Collenette, a Chrétien supporter and Transport Minister David Collenette’s wife.
Several other names have also surfaced.
They include Dr. Khaled Hashem, a dentist with a Lebanese background similar to Harb’s, and Isabel Metcalfe, a political consultant and former president of the Liberal Riding Association.
While there is no word from the Progressive Conservatives, the NDP or the Alliance, some people have already labelled a byelection in Ottawa Centre a precursor to a national election.
“As far as urban Canada goes, Ottawa Centre is very much a representative riding,” says Mahoney.
He adds many of the problems facing the riding are similar to those of others across the country.
Whether or not a byelection is called Mahoney says next year will bring many changes to how Canada’s government works.
“I’d like people to know that I think the future, starts right here, right now,” says Mahoney