Rahim decides to show up and talk some more

Apparently, Mr. Jaffer decided to show up today for yesterday's appointment before the Commons Government Operations Committee. He was too busy yesterday tending to his wife, Helena Guergis and her medical appointment; he felt it was more important to be with his wife than it was to spend quality time with his former colleagues from the House. Had that been you or I that ignored the summons from Parliament, I suspect we would not have been given a second chance to appear before someone showed up at our door with handcuffs. Most likely he suspected that yesterday's announcement would win him a few sympathy votes from the members of the Committee.

A new allegation that cropped up was that it appears that he may have travelled on his special government-issued green passport for his own personal business. According to the Passport Canada website, a green passport is only issued to persons holding office (i.e. MPs, Senators and to persons employed by the government in non-diplomatic capacities who are travelling on official government business. Why Mr. Jaffer even had this passport in his possession after being turfed from office is beyond me. Mr. Jaffer denied having used the passport but when asked to produce it so that the stamps could be checked, he claimed that he had lost the passport. He certainly appears to be a responsible fellow! Luckily, he seems to have his pockets full of his old MP business cards should he need to prove his identity.

Mr. Jaffer also claimed that he took his entire personal website down when he was asked to remove the Conservative Party logo; unfortunately, that is not true because the website remained up for several days without the logo before the site was taken down in its entirety. A copy of the two websites is available on the cbc.ca website here and on the Globe and Mail website here. Apparently, Mr. Jaffer's memory has not improved with time. It would also appear that he does not understand that everything that has ever been posted on the internet seems to exist forever. The truth is out there and it will be discovered.

When Mr. Jaffer was asked by NDP MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena - Bulkley Valley) if he knew what the penalties for "influence peddling" were, Mr. Jaffer reminded him that he didn't actually have any influence. I think all Canadians know that, I'm just not certain that Mr. Jaffer actually believes it. Not when he was handing out his old MP business cards a year after he was defeated in the 2008 election.

To cap the whole performance off, Mr. Jaffer laments that he no longer recognizes the Conservative Party after the Conservative members of the Committee picked on him again today. Unfortunately, Mr. Jaffer just doesn't seem to have grasped the concept that his old chums in the Conservative Party of Canada regard him as a liability, not an asset. More's the pity.

The Apologetic Side of Rahim

It seems that Mr. Jaffer was wrong. He has emailed a letter to Marc-Olivier Girard, Procedural Clerk for the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates apologizing for his last appearance before the Committee back on April 21, 2010.

Here's a quote from the letter from the Globe today:

"I now know that I was wrong. I inadvertently ending up providing incomplete information to the Committee about a couple of important things and I really regret it. It has embarrassed me. I apologize to the Committee."

How about an apology to Canadians? Is he apologizing because he inadvertently got caught in testimony that his own former Conservative colleagues quickly and readily admitted was not factual?

He claims that he responded to the Committee without being fully prepared because he was so upset about how the Prime Minister had treated his wife; he just wanted to jump to her defence as quickly as possible. He states that he was "unprepared for the aggressive and nasty tone of some of the questioning at the Committee.". He was "appalled and upset that anyone would so casually attack my character.". It's just my opinion, but I suggest that had he been a member of the same Committee looking into the affairs of an Opposition MP, he would have been no less aggressive and no less nasty. It was also interesting for viewers to see that Mr. Jaffer was turned on most quickly by his own former Party members during questioning. They did little to defend his actions, seemed to take deliberate steps to distance themselves from Mr. Jaffer and seemed to take great political delight in catching him in an inconsistency. He had no allies in the Committee room that day.

I do like his explanation of his use of one of his wife's MP Blackberrys. He claims that he did this so he could keep track of her schedule. He admits that he may have inadvertently sent emails through the same government-issued device. He also states that he knows of dozens of MPs and Cabinet Ministers who share their allotment of four Blackberrys with their spouses. That brings to mind a question. How many of us that work for private corporations are issued Blackberrys for our spouse's use? I'd suggest there are very, very few. Another question. Why should taxpayers pay for a Blackberry for the use of the spouse of any MP? Let's hope that Sheila Fraser digs to the bottom of this obvious misuse of taxpayer's money.

Mr. Jaffer was served a summons by the government Operations Committee to appear this afternoon, however, he declined to attend stating that he needed to attend a medical appointment with his wife, Helena Guergis. He really wants to clear his name, it's just not convenient for him today. Every Canadian should try that excuse when called into a court of law, "Sorry your Honour, but I have to wash my cat today.". His lawyer, Mr. Frank Addario, states that Mr. Jaffer would be more than willing to appear before the Committee Thursday or Friday of this week or Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. It must be nice to still have that sense of entitlement that comes with being an MP. Technically, Mr. Jaffer can be found in contempt of Parliament for his non-appearance today. If that were you or I that ignored a summons from a Commons Committee, you can bet that we'd be found in contempt post haste. If a former MP has this little regard and respect for a Commons Committee made up of his former peers, how could anyone expect the Canadian public to feel any different?

Let's get on with the show and put this whole sorry mess to bed once and for all.

This just in:

Helena is "in the family way" and Rahim had to accompany her to a medical appointment like the dutiful husband and father-to-be he is.

Rahim and Helena - No Christmas card from the Harpers this year!

That rather loud thumping sound you heard yesterday afternoon was the sound of Rahim hitting the curb as the Conservatives summarily, firmly and very publicly booted him from the CPC bus.

For the first few minutes of the sitting of the government's Operations Committee, Rahim appeared to have a proper air of repentance (even managing to summon a few tears) mixed with confidence that, at the very least, his old buddies from the Conservative caucus would give him a pass because, after all, they were old buddies. He even summoned the spectre of the Opposition conspiracy against him and how they had set the bar so low by even thinking that the salacious allegations about him could be true. After all, he was the great Rahim Jaffer, a self-made immigrant, first elected to the House when he was but a babe of 25.

You have to admit, it was kind of cool watching the Conservatives devour one of their own in Committee yesterday. Listening to Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski corner Rahim about why his website stated that he helped companies "secure support from the Canadian government", watching Rahim deny the allegation and then having hard copies of the website text he had just denied existed presented to him was like shooting fish in a barrel. Mr. Lukiwksi followed up by asking if Rahim "...understood that your actions have tarnished the reputations of politicians from all Parties.". Conservative MP Chris Warkentin offered the coup de grace by telling Rahim that "This type of behaviour sullies all of our names.".

The first sign of the growing canyon between Harper and the Guergis-Jaffer team was when Harper mispronounced "Guergis" while announcing her resignation on April 9th. He was just telegraphing Canadians that "Really, I didn't know her that well. See, I can't even pronounce her name properly.". Canadians should have seen yesterday's shunning of Rahim coming from several miles away.

It will be interesting to see how the Committee treats Helena. Will they go easy on her and lay this entire sordid affair at the feet of Rahim or will they tar her with the same brush and boot both of them to the curb to put a firm end to the matter?

It certainly does appear that both the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister are washing their hands of the couple. Their days as Conservatives appear to be over. Apparently, you don't cross the big guy and get away with it.

I would imagine that the Guergis-Jaffers and the Harpers won't be exchanging Christmas cards this year.

ps I hate to tell Rahim, but the bar was set so low so he'd be able to jump over it.

pps I also hate to tell Mr. Warkentin and Mr. Lukwiski, but Canadians already hold our politicians in low regard. Yesterday's activities just confirmed what we already suspected.

What's Under All the Rest of the "Rocks"?

It has certainly been an interesting week for Helena Guergis and those of us that have been watching from the sidelines as her political career seemed to implode. Canadian newspaper, magazine, radio and television media have been enthralled with the story and have done a great deal of investigation, discovering intimate details about her activities during her tenure as Minister for the Status of Women and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The media has scrutinized her every move for the past couple of years and every day this week, Canadians have learned something new (and, it would appear, increasingly sordid) about her private and public life. Every time a new rock is overturned, something slimy seems to crawl out into the light of day.

It would be interesting to see what would come to light if the media scrutinized all of our elected officials to the same degree that the political and private lives of Helena Guergis have been examined over the past few days. Thursday it was revealed that Rahim Jaffer travelled with her to Belize and Guatemala in 2008 and appears in photos taken on that trip. If he were not such a recognizable spouse, would we even be aware that he had accompanied his wife on the trip? In this case, a Foreign Affairs spokesperson stated that her Department did not disburse any funds for Mr. Jaffer, however, Canadians are so mistrustful of their politicians that they may find this difficult to believe. At the very least, the optics of the situation are not particularly good.

If a backbencher of any Party took the same trip with their spouse, it is highly unlikely that any Canadian would recognize their spouse in any publicity photo. If, as alleged, Rahim Jaffer used his wife's taxpayer-sponsored limousine privileges, it would more readily come to light, again, because he is a recognizable spouse. In the same vein, if a backbencher's spouse used the same limousine privileges, it would likely pass unnoticed.

If all the rest of the "rocks" in Ottawa were overturned, it may turn out that the actions of Ms. Guergis are not that unique among our politicians. It is most unlikely that Canadian taxpayers will ever know the extent to which privileges of office are misused by those we elect. Books such as "On the Take", a 1995 expose written by Stevie Cameron about the greed and corruption in Ottawa during the Mulroney era, show the Canadian electorate how corruption can be epidemic in the halls of the House. We can only hope that we are not seeing a repeat of history, however, we will never know for certainty.

On the upside of this whole affair, it seems to have completely re-energized Wayne Easter (Liberal - Malpeque, PEI). Apparently, Ms. Guergis should have never insulted his home province! Please note that this video was from Question Period prior to Ms. Guergis "resignation".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gQw8Hq5U6A

Oh Helena, why don't you just admit that you can't handle the job?

Today in the House, MP Wayne Easter (Liberal) revealed that Minister of State for the Status of Women Helena Guergis' office assistant, Jessica Craven had written letters supporting her boss to several newspapers in Ms. Guergis' riding of Simcoe-Grey. These letters were written using Ms. Craven's married name of Morgan which she does not use in her professional life. She claims that she used her married name to separate her opinions as a generic Canadian from her opinions as an assistant for Minister Guergis. In one of Ms. Craven/Morgan's letters she defends the childish actions of her boss at the Charlottetown airport in late February. She has also written other letters that both defend her boss and criticize members of opposition parties. While Ms. Craven/Morgan claims that Minister Guergis was unaware that she had written the letters, I find it hard to believe that the Minister had absolutely no knowledge of what had taken place. Is she telling us that she doesn't even read the papers in her own riding to see what issues are important to her constituents? Shades of Sarah "Can't Name a Paper or Magazine" Palin!

I hate to tell Ms. Craven, but as long as she is an office assistant for Minister Guergis, she is not a generic Canadian and, as such, her letter-writing tactics are nothing more than an infantile and amateurish attempt to sway voter opinion. A rank amateur indeed.

This story should sound familiar to readers. Back in 2001, Helena's husband Rahim Jaffer, a former Canadian Alliance MP used one of his staffers to impersonate him on a Vancouver radio show. Mr. Jaffer was forced to apologize to Parliament and was demoted to the backbenches. In light of today's revelation, don't the two of them seem so well suited to each other? Apparently they actually do spend time communicating, at least to the level where they discuss how best to dupe the sweaty masses!

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, exactly what does it take to be fired from the Harper cabinet? Apparently quite a bit.

...and this is equal justice for all?

Here's an idea. Take a car, any car. Drive north of Toronto, say in the riding of Simcoe - Grey. Have a couple of drinks first and make sure you put that coke in your glove compartment or trunk. If you're feeling really confident, just leave a little on the seat beside you. Now, speed up to twice the posted speed limit and let yourself get pulled over by the Ontario Provincial Police. Get yourself charged with driving under the influence, possession of a cocaine and speeding. After protesting your innocence to the media, go and hire yourself a really good lawyer by the name of Howard Ruble . When the Crown Prosecutor comes calling, tell them you'll "cop a plea" to a reduced charge of dangerous driving and pay a $500 fine.

See how that works out for you.

Here's a quote from the Star website today:

"I’m sure you can recognize a break when you see one,” Justice Doug Maund told Jaffer in court after the Crown announced it was dropping the other charges.

Outside the courthouse, Jaffer admitted, “I should have been more careful. I’m sorry. I know this is a serious matter.”

Wearing a dark suit, with his hair gelled, a confident Jaffer was flanked by family and his lawyer, Howard Ruble, as he spoke briefly before being whisked away in an SUV."

ps - Did I remember to mention that you should change your name to Rahim and have held the position of MP for Edmonton - Strathcona for the Conservative Party?

pps - Did I also remember to mention that you should also have a wife who is a Federal Cabinet Minister?

ppps - It is most fortunate for Mr. Jaffer that he wasn't subjected to the justice system on Prince Edward Island (referred to as "this hellhole" by his wife Minister Helena Guergis)!

References:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/crime/article/777147--drug-drunk-driving-charges-dropped-against-former-tory-mp