TORONTO — Helena Guergis is looking for some face time with her former boss, Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
One day after the RCMP said there were no grounds to lay criminal charges against the former cabinet minister or her husband Rahim Jaffer, Guergis spoke out.
In a statement Thursday, Guergis said she’s relieved with the outcome of the RCMP investigation.
The Ontario MP, who now sits as an Independent after being turfed from the Conservative caucus, said she will continue to work hard for the people who elected her. She also said it’s time for a meeting with Harper.
“I think it is time for a face-to-face meeting between the PM and I,” she said.
“He can raise his concerns, whatever they are, and I can answer. I have never been afforded this opportunity.”
Guergis was pushed from cabinet, caucus and ultimately the Conservative nomination in her Ontario riding over allegations she had used her position to further the private business interests of Jaffer.
Jaffer had been working with a Toronto venture capitalist who was facing unrelated fraud charges until the Crown withdrew those charges Thursday in a Newmarket, Ont., court.
The Prime Minister’s Office was unswayed by the RCMP’s judgment Wednesday, however, and said Guergis would not be allowed back into caucus.
The ethics commissioner is currently examining whether she broke ethics rules when she wrote a letter of support for a businessman in her constituency who had prior dealings with Jaffer.
That examination was not related to the first letter sent from Harper’s office, which did not trigger an investigation by the ethics commissioner.
“I am looking forward to a resolution on that end as well,” Guergis said.
The issue over what Guergis was told prior to her ouster is still a subject of debate between her camp and Harper’s office.
The Conservative party’s lawyer, Arthur Hamilton, testified at a committee that Guergis was clearly told the nature of the allegations. He said they involved the claim she was using her office to help Jaffer peddle influence with potential clients.
The information came from a private investigator probing Gillani.
The New Democrats say both Guergis and Canadians deserve to hear exactly what allegations caused a cabinet minister to lose her job.