Carl Benito
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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 by | Weslyn Mather |
| Succeeded by | Sohail Quadri |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 21, 1954 Manila, Philippines |
| Party | Progressive 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.
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]