OTTAWA – Embattled politician Helena Guergis has resigned her junior cabinet job, been removed from the Conservative caucus and is now facing an RCMP investigation.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the developments Friday at a news conference in Ottawa during which he said he has referred to the RCMP "serious allegations" involving Guergis’s behaviour. He also said he has asked the ethics commissioner to examine her conduct.
"I’m very disappointed," Harper told reporters. "This is a very sad day."
It was not clear what allegations Harper had asked the RCMP to investigate.
"Last night, my office became aware of serious allegations regarding the conduct of the Honourable Helena Guergis," he said.
"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."
In an e-mail statement to friends and colleagues, Guergis was contrite.
"This morning, I tendered my resignation as Minister of State for Status of Women to the Prime Minister which he accepted," Guergis wrote.
"The past nine months have been a very difficult time for me. I have made mistakes for which I have apologized. I want the people of P.E.I. to know that when I spoke emotionally I was speaking about the airport as I would never insult my father’s birthplace. I apologize again. I have worked hard for Canadian women and I am proud of my record of my accomplishments on their behalf. I will continue in my position as MP for Simcoe-Grey and continue to serve my community."
Alberta MP Rona Ambrose, already minister of public works, will take on Guergis’s post as minister responsible for the status of women.
Moments after Harper’s statement, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff stepped up to the same microphone as Harper and demanded the prime minister to detail for Canadians the allegations being made against Guergis in what he called a "sordid story."
Ignatieff said Harper’s handling of the Guergis-Rahim Jaffer affair raise "questions about the prime minister’s judgment." Ignatieff also said he doesn’t buy Harper’s position that his only concern is Guergis’s behaviour, and that he has no interest in Jaffer’s activities because he considers him a private citizen.
Ignatieff said that assertion doesn’t hold water, considering evidence Jaffer, who is married to Guergis and is also a former Tory MP, was using his wife’s parliamentary BlackBerry and was using the Conservative logo on his website until the PMO told him to take it down Thursday.
"Spare us this private-citizenship stuff," Ignatieff said.
The political fate of Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women, became Ottawa’s hottest guessing game after allegations emerged in a newspaper report Thursday that Jaffer had boasted of his connections to Harper’s office to further his private business interests. Jaffer was also using one of his wife’s taxpayer-funded parliamentary BlackBerrys.
The Toronto Star reported that Jaffer told prospective business associates during a booze-soaked evening at a Toronto steak house that he could secure federal government loans and grants through his government connections.
Jaffer, 39, e-mailed a short statement from his company, Green Power Generation (GPG), which said, "Mr. Jaffer is a valued partner of GPG. The allegations in the Toronto Star are inaccurate and a complete mischaracterization of the contact between Mr. Jaffer, a principal of GPG, and Mr. Nazim Gillani of International Strategic Investments (ISI). In light of the publication GPG intends to seek legal action against the Toronto Star."
The PMO has denied Jaffer had any access to Harper or his office.
"Any accusation that the Prime Minister’s Office has opened doors for Rahim Jaffer or his associates is false and it is also absurd," PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas said Thursday.
Soudas also said that Harper believed Guergis was doing "a good job" in her role as minister.
Harper previously fended off repeated opposition demands to fire Guergis after it was learned she had indulged in a loud temper tantrum during a dust-up with security officials in February at the Charlottetown airport, during which she referred to her surroundings as a "hellhole."
To see pictures of the rise and fall of MP’s Helena Guergis and Rahim Jaffer, click here.
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