Helena Guergis says she was "thrown under the bus" by the prime minister, and that she became the victim of an unfounded smear campaign after being booted from the government last year.
In an interview with CTV's Power Play Friday evening, the former Conservative cabinet minister accused Stephen Harper of "not being forthcoming" about the details of the allegations that led to her expulsion from Harper's caucus.
"I believe that had he (been forthcoming), that we could have avoided so much over the past year… I'm very upset, I'm very disappointed," said Guergis, who is now running as an incumbent independent in the Ontario riding of Simcoe-Grey.
Details of a letter from the Prime Minister's Office to the RCMP have now come to light, however. In the letter dated the same day Guergis lost her junior cabinet post, Harper's principal secretary wrote that the allegations raised by Toronto-based private investigator Derrick Snowdy are numerous, but the PMO had "no first-hand knowledge" of them.
According to published reports, the allegations included involvement with drug use and prostitution, as well as fraud and extortion. The Mounties subsequently refused to investigate the matter, however.
In his comments Friday, Harper indicated it was not his job to evaluate the legitimacy of the allegations.
At a campaign stop in Thornhill, Ont., Harper added that "there is no will" to see her fly the Tory colours again.
Although he never mentioned them before, Harper said that there were "a very wide range of problems involving this particular Member of Parliament" besides the "serious allegations" cited at the time of Guergis' ouster. Those allegations were never verified.
But Guergis said Harper's behaviour in the matter is unbecoming of a prime minister.
"I feel like he's just making it up as he goes along," she said, adding that Harper no longer commands "the slightest bit of my support."
"Back here in the riding, there's a lot of constituents who share the same opinion, because they believe that they are worthy to answers about their questions."
Guergis said she was never told who her accusers were or any details. Instead, she said Harper held a press conference last year and "told all Canadians across the country that he was aware of serious allegations against me, and then threw me under the bus."
Since then, Guergis said that media sources have told her that several stories about her alleged behaviour actually originated with the Prime Minister's Office.
"These allegations relate to the conduct of Ms. Guergis and do not involve any other minister, MP, senator or federal government employee," Harper said in a brief news conference on April 9, 2010, announcing his acceptance of Guergis' resignation.
"We received information, we did not comment on that information, we gave that information to authorities for them to do their investigation," he said in comments that never once referred to his former minister of state for the status of women by name.
At his own campaign stop in Ottawa Friday morning, Liberal Party Leader Michael Ignatieff said an error in judgment seems to be the case.
"The thing that's astounding to me is the prime minister's judgment. You cashier a member of your own caucus, but you keep in your inner circle, in the prime minister's own office, a man five times convicted of fraud, Mr. Carson, who then gets accused of influence peddling," he said, referring to the case of disgraced former Harper aide Bruce Carson.
At the time of Guergis' ouster, she and her husband, former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, were grabbing headlines over questions surrounding the handling of personal finances, comportment in social circles and allegations of involvement in illegal lobbying.
And in the months leading up to that tumultuous period, Guergis' reported temper tantrum at the Charlottetown airport and Jaffer's roadside arrest also proved fodder for the tabloids. Jaffer was initially charged with drunk driving and cocaine possession, but those charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to careless driving.
While Guergis is still waiting for a report from the federal ethics commissioner, Jaffer remains subject of an investigation by the federal lobbying commissioner.
With files from The Canadian Press
