Verdict expected for former Calgary councillor accused of lying on travel expenses

  • Canadian Press

A judge is expected to hand down his verdict on whether a former Calgary city councillor is guilty of fraud and breach of trust. Calgary City Hall is shown on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh.

CALGARY -- A judge is expected to hand down his verdict today on whether a former Calgary city councillor is guilty of fraud and breach of trust.

Joe Magliocca is accused of lying on travel expense claims between October 2017 and December 2019.

He named politicians from across the country, including a Quebec cabinet minister, Ontario's NDP leader and the mayor of Halifax, but they testified they had never met the councillor.

Concerns over Magliocca's spending were raised after an investigation found he spent double what other Calgary councillors had at the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Quebec City.

Magliocca, the former councillor for Ward 2 in the city's northwest, was charged days before the 2021 municipal election, in which he lost his seat.

Closing arguments ended in October with Justice Gord Wong reserving his decision.

During the trial, the defence said there was a significant absence of evidence and the claims were the result of administrative and management errors.

The Crown disagreed.

"This is a case of petty graft engaged in over a one-year period by a former City of Calgary councillor who lied in his expense claims in order to hide the truth about his behaviour from the City of Calgary, his constituents, and the public, and obtain reimbursements to which he was not entitled," prosecutor Aaron Rankin said in his written closing argument

"He purported to be entitled to reimbursement, or to have validly spent the public's money, while eating food, drinking alcohol or smoking cigars with people who have testified that they were not his guests."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2025.