Helena Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women, is having a pretty rough month. Then, on Thursday, my colleague Glen McGregor had this in a piece in the Ottawa Citizen on Thursday:
Guergis paid $880,000 for the renovated four-bedroom house on Rock Avenue, a few blocks from Ashbury College, in the Lindenlea area of Rockcliffe.
Property records show she bought the 2,800 square-foot, two-storey home in late November and registered a mortgage for the full amount of $880,000.
The transaction was financed through a Bank of Nova Scotia branch in Edmonton, where Guergis’s husband, former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, held a seat until the last federal election.
It is unclear if Guergis bought the house with no money down, or whether the bank rolled an additional line of credit or other loan onto the mortgage to bring it up to the full purchase price of the house. Her office did not respond to a request for comment, saying only that her home and its financing were personal matters.
McGregor's revelation and Guergis' continuing difficulties came up this afternoon on CTV's Question Period:
Jane Taber (The Globe and Mail): And there's more on Ms Guergis. … there was a story in the Ottawa Citizen over the weekend from Glen McGregor talking about a new home that she has purchased in Lindenlea for $880,000 mortgage which it seems there's no down payment. Odd.
Robert Fife: (CTV News): That's right. And according to the Citizen story, she's got this house on the Athens on the Rideau crowd and she's, and apparently there's no mortgage on it. She's put no money down on this and she's got some kind of a loan, or, we don't know. They won't talk about it.
Tonda MacCharles (The Toronto Star): A mortgage on it, but it's not clear whether she actually had any down payment and what else was rolled into it.
Fife: So, anyway, she owes $890,000. The issue here is was Ms. Guergis given special treatment? We don't know that, but we're going to have to ask these questions now that the story is out. I will make a phone call to the ethics commissioner… Tuesday.. to ask the ethics commissioner: is this mortgage above board? Because if it isn't, if she's got special treatment that other Canadians have not been able to get in terms of a mortgage, then was it because of her position in cabinet that she was able to get this for a house? I think this could be quite a serious issue here. Maybe quite legitimate but, if there was special treatment here there needs to be brought out.
Taber: Let's point out the mortgage comes from Edmonton. Her husband is Rahim Jaffer the former MP from Edmonton. He was defeated in the last election.
Craig Oliver (CTV News): And well connected in that city. Here's what would worry me if I was Ms Guergis. It wouldn't worry me about anything I say or Bob says. What would worry me is off the top of this show, Tim Powers, who is a very well connected Conservative, suggested that Ms Guergis, you should be thinking about your future this weekend, considering what you want to do. What is he inviting her to do? He's inviting her, I think, to go to the Prime Minister and say I'm going to do you a favour, I'm quitting.
Fife: She won't do that. She's got an $880,000 mortgage, and in this town nobody voluntarily resigns. They've got a limo, and a staff, and they love this sort of stuff. She's not going to give it up. But there isn't a single Conservative in this town who is defending her. Not a single person. The only person who is, the reason why she's surviving right now is the Prime Minister, and the only reason he's keeping her on board is he doesn't want to do [fire her], he follows Jean Chretien's line that if you throw somebody overboard now the opposition will be back braying for the next child.
Tell me something, can anyone find out the details about the mortgages held by the hyenas gathered “around the rim” on CTV's QP?
Bob Fife: “I will make a phone call to the ethics commissioner… Tuesday.. to ask the ethics commissioner: is this mortgage above board?”
I believe His Blondness may be mistaken as to his role in an inquiry asked of the Ethics Commissioner.
http://ciec-ccie.gc.ca/Default.aspx?pid=8&lang=en
“Inquiries/examinations: The Commissioner may conduct an inquiry into whether a Member of the House of Commons has contravened the Member's Code on the request of another Member or on her own initiative where there is reason to believe that a contravention has occurred. She may also be directed to conduct an inquiry by resolution of the House. …”
Did I miss Bob Fife being elected MP? According to the passage above, an MP's request or a resolution of the House is what triggers an investigation. Why does Fife think he can ask the Ethics Commissioner to investigate this matter?
Bob Fife: “But there isn't a single Conservative in this town who is defending her. Not a single person.”
How can Fife make that claim? Has he actually spoken to every single Conservative in Ottawa?
The stench of sanctimoniousness emanating from that vipers' nest called “Around the rim” is sickening.
[Disclaimer: Mr. Akin does not endorse the terms “hyena” and His Blondness” used here. Gabby in QC is solely responsible.]
Wow…our MSM is really sad when this is big news. I love how it's Taber, Fife, MacCharles and Oliver who are freaking out. Maybe we should investigate all MP mortgages? Or maybe the MSM should investigate which MP's recieved sponsorship money? I bet they keep this “scandal” going for a few weeks. No wonder the MSM has become a joke.
After the 2003 Ontario election, the Ontario Liberal party purchased a house in Toronto for Dalton McGuinty to live in. All that was ever reported about it in the media was that it was in the Summerhill area of Toronto and the purchase price was in the “high six figures.” The Queen’s Park media didn’t seem interested in pursuing any more details, even though McGuinty’s public housing allowance was being paid to the Liberal party as “rent.”
I found out where the house is and published the deed, mortgage and property tax details on my blog (joantintor.blogspot.com) in May of 2006. The purchase price was $995,000. A mortgage of $1,000,000 was placed on the property also.
I estimated the carrying costs at approximately $7,000 per month, considerably more than the $1,460 in housing allowance “rent” that McGuinty paid to live there.
Bob Fife for next GG.
Little hint to all those “investigative journalists” out there . If you take yourself down to the Land Titles Office and pay whatever the fee is, you can do a title search on a property and find out exactly what mortgages, loans, liens, etc. are attached to the house and who owns them.
Of course it's much more fun just to speculate ….
Is this a witch hunt? Sure seems to be, I am starting to feel very sorry for Ms Guergis.
You know, if you guys in the media put in even half the effort that you've put into this little campaign against Guergis when the Liberals are in power, I wouldn't be so afraid to have them back in government.
Ottawa journalists all quoting other Ottawa journalists. They all must have had a four day weekend and have zip to report. Cripes, every two bit couple in Vancouver has to buy a house in a market where the median price is $900 thousand. The cost? Less than 3 grand per month on your payments! A two income family can and does handle this. The Ottawa power couple who are only guilty of bad behaviour can surely afford it. But there we are, the creme of the PPG following the money…..
Adscam type real scandals? Please we are in polite company. Sad indeed.
Does ANYONE have ANY REASON to suspect this mortgage isn't legit? Come on, anyone with anything at all? So its just a big fishing expedition, then.
The “journalists” involved in this story, including Mr. Akin, have exposed themselves as cheap hacks who would rather chase sensational gossip than report on substantive issues.
McGregor, Fife, MacCharles, Taber and Akin are pathetic examples of the rot at the core of our national discourse. You should all be ashamed.
BTW, is His Blondness as concerned about these loans as he is about how Ms. Guergis obtained her mortgage?
http://www.canada.com/news/2006+Liberal+leadership+aspirants+miss+debt+deadline/2405365/story.html
“Six 2006 Liberal leadership aspirants miss debt deadline
BY GLEN MCGREGOR, OTTAWA CITIZEN
JANUARY 4, 2010
OTTAWA — Six MPs who ran for the Liberal leadership in 2006 — including eventual winner Stephane Dion — have missed the year-end deadline to repay loans made to their campaigns, the party says.
Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand in 2008 granted the candidates 18-month extensions to pay off debts, but the party admits tough economic times and the recurring possibility of another election meant they couldn't meet the date.
Dion and MPs Gerard Kennedy, Martha Hall-Findlay, Maurizio Bevilacqua, Joe Volpe and Hedy Fry were all given extensions that expired on New Year's Eve. … ”
So, who got “special treatment” again?
Her constituency office seems to be working overtime tonight!
Helena Guergis Watch – News Flash:
Helen Guergis was spotted dining in an upscale Ottawa restaurant recently, the Ottawa Inbred Press Gallery has confirmed.
An eye witness confirms that Ms. Guergis ordered a premium steak and a glass of imported red wine served by a male waiter and paid for with her personal credit card.
This latest incident compounds the recent troubles regarding Ms. Guergis' conduct, and raises more questions regarding her suitability as the Minister for the Status of Women:
– Did she order the steak because she supports moronic Western Canadian yahoos, or because she hates Eastern Canadian chicken farmers, or both?
– Did she order imported wine because she is a shameless snob, or because of her disdain for the Niagara wine making industry, or both?
– Did she receive service from a male waiter because she is a depraved sex addict, or because she hates women, or both?
– Was the tip too low, proving she is an elitist cheapskate, or too high, proving she is an elitist spendthrift, or both?
– Does her personal credit have “bonus points”, or a preferred interest rate, or both?
Ms. Guergis' office refused to respond to these questions, surprisingly claiming that her personal dining habits were “none of our business.”
However it is widely expected by the Ottawa Inbred Press Gallery that this latest scandal will reinvigorate calls for her resignation in the House of Commons.
I live in Helena's riding and have voted for her every time. She is a wonderfull M.P. and works very hard for the riding. I am disgusted by all that I have read and heard on “Power Play”. This is right out of the book by Alinsky. The Democrats are famous for this Alinskyism. They believe in blood sport and this is exactly what they are doing to H. Guergis.
Very funny. Right after a financial crisis, partly resulting from no-downpayment mortgages, Minister buys a house with no downpayment. This is how government loses credibility – how does Minister Flaherty cricitisize banks for giving out high risk mortgages when Cabinet Minister continue to get them?
She'll be in trouble if he's kicked out of Cabinet. If her mortgage is $880,000, even with a generous interest rate and 30 year mortage her annual mortage payments will be about $40,000. If she loses $50,000 from her salary if shes booted from Cabinet it will be hard to manage on a $60,000 before tax income with Rahim unemployed. looooooool.
Not as hard as you might think. The current MP base salary is $157,731. Ministers get an extra $75,516.