Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press
You didn’t have to be a psychic to know that Status of Women Minister Helena Guergis was going to “offer her resignation” today. Perhaps what was surprising is that not only did Ms.Guergis leave her Cabinet position, but will sit outside of the party caucus as the RCMP investigates “serious allegations” about her conduct. In the end, it’s probably the best thing for the Conservative Party to distance itself from the train wreckage.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper explained the reasons for booting her from the caucus to the press gallery in Ottawa.
“Last night, my office became aware of serious allegations regarding the conduct of the Honourable Helena Guergis. These allegations relate to the conduct of Ms. Guergis and do not involve any other minister, MP, senator or federal government employee.
“I’ve referred the allegations to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and to the RCMP. Under the circumstances, I will not comment on them further.”
Coming back into the fold is former embattled environment minister Rona Ambrose, who had a tough go of it her first time around as a Cabinet Minister. She will take over the portfolio of Helena Guergis.
The fallout is based partially on a Toronto Star article that ran yesterday in which wild claims of impropriety were made about her husband, Rahim Jaffer, who bragged in an email that he reach into the PMO for his business contacts. This claim has been largely refuted by Conservatives over the past 24 hours.
The opposition has been nothing if not elated over these events, with NDP MP Pat Martin making the hyperbolic comparison to the sponsorship scandal.
The taint spilled over last night onto Helena Guergis when it was revealed that Mr.Jaffer has also used her parliamentary email address for his own personal business. The party also asked him to remove the party logo from his personal website, which up until yesterday had remained intact.
But perhaps the straw that broke the camel’s back is that a review of her election expenses show she tried to write off clothing purchases under the word “career”. Elections Canada limits specific and reasonable expenses to travel, living arrangements, and child care. This is where the ethics argument comes into play, particularly unreasonable coming from a conservative politician who expects taxpayers should foot the bill for her choice of purse.
All of these myriad reasons for booting her from caucus and forcing her to resign notwithstanding, it doesn’t mean that her career is over. The fact is that she had become too hot a political potato to touch, and the stink coming from Rahim Jaffer was getting all over the party. And let’s face it, none of this has anything to do with the Conservative Party.
The Toronto Star article which went viral yesterday, will likely also come under heavy scrutiny, not least for its interesting characterization of sex trade workers as “busty hookers”, a term entirely out of sorts with the usually politically correct newspaper. Because the term wasn’t put in quotation marks, it’s difficult to discern exactly who is characterizing the prostitutes in this way, and whether it’s done for political reasons.
As for Helena Guergis, if she is worthy, she can wait in the shadows like Rona Ambrose or Maxime Bernier, and reemerge at a later date. I’ve noticed that the Conservatives often bring up “prospects” too quickly, and just like a professional sports team, sometimes you have to send them back to the minors for a while. Then again, sometimes you need to cut from the team altogether. How it proceeds from here will be almost entirely up to Ms.Guergis.
UPDATE
Perhaps it isn’t clear from my post, but Rona Ambrose isn’t getting a brand new Cabinet position. She’s already the Minister of Public Works.
