Marwan Tabbara


Marwan Rached Tabbara is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the riding of Kitchener South—Hespeler in the House of Commons of Canada as a representative of the Liberal Party in the 2015 federal election.
Tabbara is currently facing assault, break and enter, and harassment charges. He left from the Liberal Party Caucus to sit as an Independent as a result of these charges.

Early life

Marwan Tabbara was born in Beirut, Lebanon on August 23, 1984. Four years later, his family immigrated to Canada to flee the ongoing Lebanese Civil War.

Early career

After receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Government from the University of Guelph, Tabbara took several construction jobs in the summer before working at the Frito Lay plant in Cambridge, where he worked as a line technician. He also worked as a field supervisor for a management company doing quality control work within the automotive industry.

Member of Parliament

2015 comments on the Middle East

For the 2015 federal election, during a Kitchener South—Hespeler debate, Tabbara mentioned that Jean Chrétien refused to send troops into Afghanistan when he was prime minister even though Canada began sending troops to Afghanistan in 2001 during Chretien's tenure. Tabbara's statement was challenged by Conservative candidate Marian Gagne to which he replied "So is bombing Syrian children OK?" Tabbara apologized for the comments.

Criminal charges

On April 9, 2020, Tabbara was arrested by police in Guelph, Ontario on charges that included two counts of assault, one count of "break and enter and commit an indictable offence" and one count of criminal harassment. On June 5, 2020 it was reported that he is "stepping back from the Liberal caucus" but not resigning as an MP. Tabbara was jailed and bailed on Easter Friday 2020 but nobody was informed about it, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, until June because the police and judicial systems failed to release the information to the public. His bail hearing was done remotely by a Justice of the Peace 120km away from the jailhouse he occupied. Tabbara, who successfully hid the matter from his caucus until 5 June, now sits as an independent MP.
Tabbara is scheduled to make a court appearance on June 19, 2020 in relation to the charges.

Sexual harassment allegations

The Liberals looked into detailed allegations of misconduct made against the Kitchener South-Hespeler MP that included inappropriate touching and unwelcome sexual comments directed at a female staffer during the 2015 election campaign.

Electoral record