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Carl Benito
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Edmonton-Mill Woods
In office
March 3, 2008 – April 22, 2012
Preceded byWeslyn Mather
Succeeded bySohail Quadri
Personal details
Born (1954-02-21) February 21, 1954 (age 70)
Manila, Philippines
Political partyProgressive Conservative

Carlito M. Benito (born February 21, 1954) is a former Filipino Canadian politician from Alberta. Benito served as the member of Legislative Assembly of Alberta (MLA) for the electoral district of Edmonton-Mill Woods from 2008 to 2012 as a member of the Progressive Conservative.

Early life and career

Benito was born February 21, 1954, in Manila, Philippines.[citation needed] He immigrated to Canada in 1982. He worked as a real estate and insurance agent.[1]

Political career

In the 2001 Alberta election, Benito ran as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the riding of Edmonton-Mill Woods but lost to Weslyn Mather.[1]

He ran again in 2008, this time defeating Mather. He described himself as Alberta's first Filipino MLA.[1]

In 2012, Benito lost the Progressive Conservative nomination for his riding, placing third behind Sohail Quadri and Ron Randhawa. He ran in the 2012 election as an independent.[2] He lost the election, placing fifth.[3]

Controversies

During his 2008 election campaign, Benito pledged would donate his salary as an MLA (approximately $75,000) to a scholarship fund.[1] He later claimed that he did not mean he would give away his entire salary, just a part of it.[4][5]

Benito blamed his wife for a failure to pay property taxes on their rental properties.[6] Benito later paid the taxes after the matter was covered in a front-page Edmonton Journal article.[7][8]

In October 2022, Benito, together with his son, Charles Benito, pleaded guilty to immigration fraud.[9] Benito was fined $75,000 for the offence.[10]

Election results

2001 general election

2001 Alberta general election results[11] Turnout 54.39%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
Liberal Don Massey 4,920 48.97%
Progressive Conservative Carl Benito 4,402 43.81%
New Democratic Mel Buffalo 725 7.22%
2008 Alberta general election results (Edmonton-Mill Woods) Turnout 40.1%
Affiliation Candidate Votes %
  Progressive Conservative Carl Benito 4752 44%
  Liberal Weslyn Mather 3996 37%
  NDP Christina Gray 1474 14%
Wildrose Alliance Robert Leddy 320 3%
Green David A. Hrushka 290 3%
2012 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Mill Woods
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Conservative Sohail Quadri 4,942 35.21% -8.66%
Wildrose Alliance Joanne Autio 3,312 23.60% 20.64%
Liberal Weslyn Mather 2,988 21.29% -15.60%
New Democratic Sandra Azocar 1,985 14.14% 0.54%
Independent Carl Benito 545 3.88% –
Alberta Party Robert Leddy 262 1.87% –
Total 14,034 – –
Rejected, spoiled and declined 111 68 7
Eligible electors / turnout 25,920 54.60% 15.49%
Progressive Conservative hold Swing 2.32%
Source(s)
Source: "41 - Edmonton-Mill Woods, 2012 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
Chief Electoral Officer (2012). The Report of the Chief Electoral Officer on the 2011 Provincial Enumeration and Monday, April 23, 2012 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-eighth Legislative Assembly (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 6, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Cormier, Ryan (March 4, 2008). "Benito ends 15-year Grit domination". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. A6. Retrieved March 6, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  2. ^ Stolte, Elise (April 4, 2012). "Mill Woods a race 'worth watching'". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. A7. Retrieved March 6, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Edmonton Results". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton Journal. April 24, 2012. p. A9. Retrieved March 6, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Benito, Carl (2008). "Thank you". Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  5. ^ Audette, Trish (August 6, 2010). "MLA insists he's keeping promise to donate salary. Never meant to imply he'd give away entire paycheque while in office". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on August 7, 2010. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  6. ^ "Wife forgot to pay taxes, MLA says". CBC News. November 2, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  7. ^ Thomson, Graham (November 4, 2010). "Benito has habit of blaming wrong people. MLA lets wife take heat for taxes he should have paid". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
  8. ^ Kleiss, Karen (November 2, 2010). "Trips, tickets popular Tory MLA freebies". Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alberta. p. A1. Retrieved March 5, 2024 – via newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Johnston, Janice (October 5, 2022). "Former Edmonton MLA, son plead guilty to immigration fraud". CBC News. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  10. ^ Johnston, Janice (October 14, 2022). "Former MLA Carl Benito fined $75,000 for immigration fraud". CBC News. Edmonton, Alberta. Archived from the original on September 2, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  11. ^ "2001 Statement of Official results Edmonton-Mill Woods" (PDF). Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on May 6, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2010.

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