So if the Guergis-Jaffer family has been up to all manner of misconduct, as is now coming to light, what’s the rest of cabinet been up to?
Over the past couple of weeks, more has come out about former cabinet minister and now-independent MP Helena Guergis and her husband, fellow former Tory MP Rahim Jaffer.
Guergis left cabinet and the Tory caucus last Friday, obviously at the prime minister’s insistence, because of things that had come to Stephen Harper’s attention.
Exactly what those issues were was not clear at the time.
There has been a litany of accusations of misconduct including Jaffer, who was voted out of office in 2008, using Guergis’s ministerial vehicle and chauffeur to transport him while she was at work, which Guergis denied. The opposition has also raised concerns about the mortgage the couple got for its $800,000 house and whether it received special treatment from the bank.
However, the latest has come out that a private investigator who was looking into a separate case involving two men, one of whom is connected to Jaffer, allegedly found information related to the purchase and use of drugs, as well as the threat of blackmail.
Now, some of these issues that have been raised have likely been trumped up ever since the opposition realized Guergis was politically injured after Jaffer was arrested on driving and cocaine possession charges (which were later reduced to careless driving) and her hissy fit at an airport in P.E.I.
But clearly, the pair was doing some things wrong, even if was just Guergis’s staff members sending out glowing letters to the editor about her without revealing their connection to the Ontario MP.
This brings us back to the original question: What has the rest of cabinet, and for that matter Parliament, been up to that could be considered misconduct?
Most likely most major cases of misconduct would have been or will be brought to light.
As for the little things, such as improper use of a government chauffeur, there’s probably some misuse of government perks — albeit no worse than what many people do in their own workplaces.
It’s most likely that most politicians aren’t doing anything wrong and that’s what is frustrating about the Guergis-Jaffer case. These two, who’ve clearly made some poor choices, are making all politicians look bad.
Most politicians, in my experience, are in this because they want to help make things better. But it’s the poor conduct of a few that makes the public think the worst of all politicians and that’s a shame.
Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.
