Helena Cleared

I was pleased to see today that the RCMP has ruled there is insufficient evidence of criminal activity taking place in the Conservative government involving Helena Guergis or Rahim Jaffer. Now we are just waiting for the Ethics Commissioner to render a ruling as to whether or not there was a violation of Parliamentary ethics, and if she is cleared of any wrongdoing, I think the Prime Minister should invite her back into caucus (which she may or may not accept). Rosemary Barton was glowing with excitement when she suggested that Helena could sue the Prime Minister, which is not going to happen. The defamation came from the likes of Marlene Jennings who suggested that Helena had ties to organized crime and was engaged in drug trafficking.

Doesn't anyone remember Rahim Jaffer boasting about his access to government on his website before Helena was dismissed? And while they may have been cleared by law enforcement, remember that the Prime Minister could not have known what the result of the investigation would be when he called for it. He is a smart man, but he's not Nostradamus. There were allegations that the husband of a cabinet minister was peddling government influence on top of a trail of e-mails and conversations between Rahim and government ministers about government contracts. A quarantine was the absolute right thing to do. We are in a minority parliament with a 24 hour news cycle, and the PM had a responsibility to his party and the people of Canada to ensure the integrity of government business.

Here's how I saw the dismissal happening; Snowdy went to the Tories with allegations that Jaffer was peddling influence, so the Prime Minister talked to his ministers who told him that Rahim was frequently inquiring about government contracts and that his activities could be construed as lobbying in a court of law. There may still be an ethical violation even if there is no criminal violation. And if Helena were to sue the Prime Minister, she has little to no chance of winning. All the PM has to say is that we are in a minority parliament and the majority opposition was demanding her dismissal and he listened, but not until he had credible reports that Rahim may have been peddling government influence.

Again, if she is cleared by the Ethics Commissioner, I support her being invited back into caucus, despite how stupid she came across in the Mansbridge interview.