Sex, Drugs, and…Parliament?

by Blythe Mueller for Urbane Magazine
Note: This article was edited for accuracy following a request by representatives of Nazim Gillani. Urbane Magazine apologizes for any incorrect reporting, and inconvenience that it may have caused.

Over the last few months a story of politicians, hookers and cocaine has played out in the Canadian press. Not in the predictable gossip columns or supermarket tabloids, but rather on the front pages of the Toronto Star. One might expect that a story so explicit and racy would be typical “gossip on the street”, a bawdy tale told to a friend with a nudge and a wink, but when sitting and former Conservative MPs are the leading characters in a blow and hoes story, the Star could not resist the temptation of such an outrageous front page.

When faced with the biggest political scandal that has hit Canada in quite some time, the notoriously liberally written Star will, of course, eat it up. International economic crisis, terrorist threats and disasters of any proportions are simply not as news worthy as a home grown political scandal involving the Conservatives.

The people at the center of the scandal are Helena Guergis and Rahim Jaffer, former Conservative MPs and a married couple. The media account of their lives has played out in a very public way detailing alleged partying with strippers, cocaine use, offshore companies and improper use of government offices and resources. But these are not the first indiscretions committed by the lead characters in this sordid affair – both have been embarrassingly portrayed in the press in recent times.

The Charlottetown airport incident in February was the first of many public embarrassments for Guergis. After being asked to remove her boots which set of the alarm while going through security the MP from Simcoe-Grey had a meltdown and threw a tantrum worthy of a spoiled three-year-old. Her display of arrogance, sense of entitlement (she was too important to submit to the normal security procedures required of Joe Citizen) and boorish behaviour quickly became fodder for the Star who painted her as some crazed lunatic, and an embarrassment for the Conservative government. This occurred shortly after apparent revelations concerning her husband’s use of cocaine. Jaffer was arrested last September for drunk driving and cocaine possession. However due to technical difficulties with the arrest and processing of evidence he was able to plead guilty to careless driving and escape with a $500 fine. A highly questionable outcome for such an apparently straight forward case, perhaps suggesting that justice for some is not justice for all.

However, a tantrum and a DUI/drug possession were just the tip of the iceberg for this Parliament Hill couple; the most salacious accusations originate with Nazim Gillani, a seedy promoter and self-proclaimed businessman who is himself the subject of various fraud investigations. Gillani, a man Jaffer seemed to be friends with, appeared to be determined to ruin their careers and reputations- as if they weren’t capable of rendering their own destruction.

Derek Snowdy, a private investigator had been looking into Gillani’s past before the Guergis-Jaffer scandal broke, and the Star made the couple their long-time front page story with largely uncorroborated information provided by this PI. Snowdy had been engaged by a client who claimed to have lost money in some shady dealings with Gillani. His investigation led him to an interview with the businessman wherein he hid his PI identity. It was in this interview that Snowdy was given the dirt on Guergis and Jaffer. It seems Gillani may the type to brag about his connections and any information he may have on highly influential people. The Star investigated and said Gillani is “a big talker, bragging of his ties to Hells Angels”, which has been since disproved; that his Bloor St. Office is a strip club, and that he is able to get low-interest government loans, something that sources have confirmed. Jaffer, a former MP, had “opened up the Prime Minister’s office to [Gillani]” according to an e-mail sent by Gillani. The last claim, and certainly the most ridiculous one, is so far from the truth it becomes laughable in light of the fact that since the 2008 election Jaffer has not been well received in Parliament. He was the only Conservative in Alberta to lose his seat, one he had held for over 10 years. Although riding associations decide who will be nominated for election, the Prime Minister had a role in the fact that Jaffer was not re-elected as a candidate. There is a lot of speculation as to why he lost his seat, though the real reasons are irrelevant as we can assume that if Harper didn’t want him back in Parliament, he certainly wouldn’t be opening his doors to have a sit downs with him about some new business venture. Such claims suggest that Gillani is less than truthful and bring into question the veracity of the other allegations.

Gillani is also the source of the greatest criticisms to Guergis’ personal behaviour, who had claimed to have cell phone pictures of Guergis and Jaffer partying with hookers while cocaine was being snorted. Such photos would certainly be damning evidence and would go a long way to prove Gillani’s claims, but despite all the hype these infamous pictures have yet to surface. Notwithstanding the lack of any concrete evidence Harper took action and removed Guergis from the caucus, apparently handing the investigation over to the RCMP. In a statement this Monday, Guergis told CBC that she feels hurt by the actions of the PM and how the affair was handled. She felt she should have been made aware of the allegations against her and the reasons before she was kicked out of the caucus. “Just tell me what the allegations are. Just put it on the table. Let me see it. Let me defend myself,” Guergis told the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge. After watching the interview, Guergis seems to have been left dumb-founded as to why she was removed from the caucus and why she has not been allowed an opportunity to respond and defend herself.

Facts continue to emerge in the scandal, and it seems as though Guergis is perhaps not completely innocent as she claims in her interview with the CBC. It seems possible that she allowed her husband to improperly use her Parliament Hill offices and other of her available resources as an MP. She also seems to have acted in an official capacity to the improper promotion of certain business interests that would directly benefit her husband, a clear violation of conflict of interest guidelines. Though, however these “crimes” may draw the ire of the average citizen, in a country where the expenses of MPs are secret and not subject to any type of 3^rd party audit, it is doubtful that there are many citizens who are naïve enough to think that MPs don’t take some advantage of the perks they have as elected officials. It is also unlikely that Guergis is the first MP to promote the interests of someone or something they are associated with, nor will she be the last. Jaffer is, by all accounts, guilty of lying to a parliamentary committee and of unregistered lobbying. He is also certainly guilty of poor judgment in his business dealings and personal associations, and although he may have been acquitted of drug and DUI charges these things will continue to stain his reputation.

Whatever personal distaste one may feel towards Guergis and Jaffer, it is difficult to ignore the lack of due process they were afforded. They were pilloried and convicted in the press without any type of formal charges being laid or any concrete evidence being presented. The Star chose to report on these various allegations and make it a front page issue as a means of attacking the Conservative government – a convenient platform to perform more Tory bashing. This is unfortunate as there are ample legitimate issues to report on and for which to render valid criticism on the minority government, but it seems the Star would rather seize on sensationalistic topics which titillate, and sell newspapers. Further, Guergis was sacrificed as a Conservative by a capricious Harper who had lost patience with an MP who had proven to be an embarrassment and one who was accused by many of being promoted beyond her capability due to her photogenic qualities and a party desire to appeal to women voters. The firing of Guergis by Harper has allowed him the appearance of acting with the highest ethical standards while his past behaviour with regards to holding his various ministers accountable for their actions has been questionable at best.

There is no doubt that the risk of being exposed for wrong doings and improprieties is a very real factor in keeping people’s behaviour in check – including our political representatives. The media provides a mechanism by which we can independently monitor our leaders and through which we can bring them to account for their actions. But we must recognize that media today is a business with business interests and media reporting is biased by the individuals who do the reporting and who manage the business. It’s obvious that the media has and will always have a major influence on politics – from campaigns to current political events. The media needs to hold themselves to a higher standard when it comes to the quality of information that they publish. If they do not they should expect the public to take this information with a grain of salt. This is our news being reported about our government and we need to be cautious about what we read and how we interpret it if we ever what to get the real facts. Save the gossip for the gossip columns.