Birds Of A Feather…

Rahim Jaffer, a former Alberta MP facing charges of cocaine possession and drunk driving, is married to current Ontario MP Helena Guergis.

With the Haiti Earthquake and the 2 month vacation mandated by Stephen Harper, it’s been a slow couple of months on the hill.  On the note of Hait relief, Canadians were phenomenally generous to the Haiti relief effort, as evidenced by this data analysis from the Guardian, “owning the podium”, as it were.

So what better way to kick start the utter crap that is the modern Canadian political scene than with a “tell us how you really feel” moment from a Conservative Party MP.

In case you missed it, here are the highlights, courtesy of the CBC.

During pre-boarding screening, the letter said, the Ontario MP refused to remove her footwear, which set off the alarm as she walked through the metal detector.

When Guergis was asked again to take off her footwear, she allegedly “slammed her boots into the bin provided,” and said, ‘Happy f–king birthday to me. I guess I’m stuck in this hellhole.’”
The letter said then, “as the footwear cleared the X-ray conveyor [Guergis] then allegedly shouted at her aide to ‘Get those for me. I’m not walking around here in sock feet.’”
When an Air Canada employee reminded her that passengers are expected to be at the airport two hours before departure, Guergis allegedly shouted, “I don’t need to be lectured about flight time by you. I’ve been down here working my ass off for you people.”

My takeaways from this experience:

• Looks like more of the same “we are the law” attitude from the Conservative party.
• The latest slam by the Conservatives to the Maritime provinces; namely that Charlottetown or its airport allegedly constitute a “hellhole”.
• This is not Canadian.

You might recall her husband Rahim.  He has been something of a news maker, the Sun provides the Coles Notes:

Rahim Jaffer, when he was a Canadian Alliance MP in 2001, tried to pull a fast one when he had aide Matthew Johnston impersonate him during an interview on Vancouver talk radio heard nationwide.

….

More recently, Jaffer, who was also a Conservative MP and was featured in anti-drug ads, was charged Sept. 17 by OPP in Palgrave with possession of cocaine and impaired driving.

Jaffer lost his seat to the only non-Conservative MP in the province of Alberta.  Maybe it’s time Helena lost hers.

Watching the outpouring of support for Haiti, I know one thing for certain, Canadians deserve better.