PMO, Vaughan developer deny reports on possible senate appointment

Aug. 26, 21014
yorkregion.com
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Media reports suggesting prominent Vaughan real estate developer Michael DeGasperis could be tapped to fill one of several vacant Senate seats are untrue, according to an official in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Italian-language newspaper Corriere Canadese has reported that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is under increasing pressure to appoint new senators and his office is evaluating several prominent Italian-Canadians, including DeGasperis, as potential candidates in a bid to secure that community’s support in the 2015 election.

But Carl Vallee, a press secretary in the PMO, dismissed the newspaper’s reports.

“The rumour is not true,” he wrote in an email. “There are no immediate plans to appoint senators.”

DeGasperis, founder and president of Arista Homes, has been a key Conservative supporter in Vaughan.

He has backed Veterans Affairs Minister and Conservative Vaughan MP Julian Fantino in his election campaigns and he was among Tory candidate Peter Meffe’s chief supporters during the recent provincial election.

But DeGasperis vehemently denied the newspaper’s claims and said he’s not interested in such a post anyway.

“The story is completely fabricated and there are statements made that are absolutely false,” he wrote in an email. “Although I am flattered by the insinuation of being considered to the Senate, I am a very hard working individual running my businesses and supporting numerous community endeavours...however, I have no interest in the Upper Chambers (sic),” he added.

When contacted for comment, Fantino said that as far as he knows, there’s “no truth to this (report)".

But, he said, DeGasperis would be a worthy addition to the Senate.

“I have known Mr. DeGasperis for many years as a hard working community-spirited citizen of Vaughan I am proud to call my friend,” he wrote in an email. “As for my thoughts on any such potential (senate) appointment, if it were true, I believe that he would be a hard working, honest and totally dedicated servant of the Canadian people.”

Franceso Veronesi, editor-in-chief of Corriere Canadese, says the paper stands behind its stories.

He said that a source provided the newspaper with a list of Italian-Canadians that the PMO is assessing as potential candidates for a senatorial seat and DeGasperis appears on that list.

He declined to divulge the source’s name or provide a copy of the list.

Between current vacancies and pending retirements, there could be as many as 17 empty seats in the Senate by the end of this year.

Harper has appointed 59 senators since becoming prime minister in 2006, but the upper chamber has recently been rocked by spending scandals involving high-profile Conservative Senators including Pamela Wallin, a former journalist and diplomat, and former CTV newsman Mike Duffy, who is facing 31 criminal charges related to expense claims.