Moose Jaw -
It seems like one of the Liberal party's rising stars has been nailed dead to rights by her own actions.
In front of an immigration committee, two women hired by Brampton MP Ruby Dhalla's family to look after her mother attempted to make the Liberal look like the Wicked Witch of the Suburbs.
Based on the testimony of Magdalene Gordo and Richelyn Tongson, Dhalla was painted as an angry, Ugly Stepmother-esque boss who forced her employees to put in 16-hour days doing housework, not just caring for her mother, as they were hired to do.
As well, the two women have said Dhalla threatened to withhold sponsoring their applications for immigration if they didn't surrender their passports.
In turn, Dhalla has denied these accusations. It has turned into a case of she said-they said.
But what strikes me is the fact that Gordo and Tongson's accusations appear to be receiving more weight than Dhalla's comments. So much so, they've been brought to Parliament Hill to testify when normally their complaints would not go before a parliamentary committee.
So why does it seem that, no matter what she says, Dhalla is not being believed?
This goes back to a core problem with our society- no matter who is talking, if one of them is a politician, the other will be believed implicitly.
Now, why should we believe Ruby Dhalla?
It's a fair question.
But, why should we automatically believe Gordo and Tongson? That's a good question, too.
There's no reason on face value that we should just give the two the benefit of the doubt, either. Who's to say they aren't being coached by one of the other parties or there isn't some kind of benefit in this for them.
Let's face it, the Conservatives would love to get Dhalla out of the way for the future. She has the potential to climb high in the Liberal party and could be Canada's first non-white prime minister in 15 to 20 years. But this kind of scandal could do serious damage to those hopes.
And here is one of the major problems of this country: Nobody trusts politicians. And what is the number one group that works to destroy that trust? You got it, politicians, in this case, the politicians who fear Dhalla.
Talk about eating your own. And this is yet another example.
It is quite possible Dhalla did nothing wrong but our society gives about as much benefit of the doubt to politicians as it does sexual offenders. So, nope, she's not going to get a fair shake.
If we want to have more honourable people enter politics then we as a society must not be so willing to hang a politician before trial.
And quite frankly, more politicians should be willing to put their profession ahead of partisanship when it comes to trumping up charges to undo an opponent.
I'm not saying the charges against Dhalla are trumped up - we just don't know for sure - but benefit of the doubt should not go against politicians by default.
Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.
