When you are elected to the House of Commons, you are handed a document called The Members' Manual of Allowance and Services. This document is published by The Speakers Office of the House of Commons and the content and policies that are contained in it are approved by what's known as the Board of Internal Economy, a committee of MPs from all parties who meet in secret every couple of weeks to discuss the financial matters of the House of Common and its general administration. This is the manual that sets out the ground rules for setting up and running an MPs office.
So far as I can tell, the Members Manual of Allowance and Services is not available on the Internet that most Canadians can use but is available on the Parliamentary intranet to which computers in almost every office on the Parliamentary Precinct are connected. As our bureau is not within the Parliamentary Precinct (but is two blocks away) and therefore is not on the Parliamentary intranet, my colleague, Global National producer Pam McKenzie, asked the Speakers Office last week for a copy of that manual, and was provided with one, after revelations emerged that then Minister of State for Status of Women Helena Guergis had provided her spouse, former Edmonton MP Rahim Jaffer, with one of the four BlackBerry wireless devices that all MPs are authorized to procure and use for the administration of their MPs office. Each BlackBerry comes with a Parliamentary e-mail account tied to the MPs office.
Here are the relevant excerpts from the Members' Manual has to say about the use and care of wireless devices that will be paid for by the House of Commons and, by extension, all taxpayers (I have provided the emphasis):
1. Introduction
Members are provided with operating funds, office premises in the Parliamentary Precinct and goods and services to be used to carry out their parliamentary functions (see definition below)…
2. Furniture, Computer, Equipment, and Supplies
Members are provided with standard furniture, equipment and supplies based on a scale of entitlement approved by the Board of Internal Economy, to support the operation of their Ottawa office . . ,
Wireless Devices: Members are provided with up to four (4) wireless devices, including three (3) voice plans, one (1) data plan, applicable monthly fees, air time, long-distance charges, and features such as voice mail, access fees and 911 services. Eligible devices include cell phones, pagers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) and must be procured by Telecommunications Services. .
Definitions
Parliamentary Functions
Duties and activities related to the position of Member of the House of Commons wherever performed and include public and official business, and partisan matters, but do not include the private business interests of a Member or a Member's immediate family. (reference: By-law 101)
Why is all this important?
It seems probable — indeed, highly likely — that the use by Jaffer of the e-mail account and wireless device by a sitting MP — and a minister, no less — is connected to the series of events the led to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling in the cops on Guergis. E-mail and PIN traffic to and from each BlackBerry is almost certainly archived and stored by the administrators of the House of Commons information technology and telecommunications services. The admission Thursday by Guergis' spokesman that Jaffer had the use of one of her BlackBerrys — and her office's defence of the practice by noting that everybody does it — may have have initially worried the PMO that this practice was something Parliament's ethics commissioner ought to look into. But then, presumably, someone connected with the PMO asked to review some of the correspondence that came through the account associated with Jaffer and that may have triggered the heightened concerns that led to the belief that, in addition to ethics commissioner, the police ought to be investigating.
UPDATE: Anonymous commenter below claims PINs are not archived and that an MP would turn over e-mail only in response to a search warrant or an order from the Speaker. I am almost certain that the folks who run parl.gc.ca, just like any big corporation in Canada, archive all communications, including e-mail and PINs, involving any device they own and for which they are, ultimately, legally responsible. My tech sources on that are pretty solid though, as always, an on-the-record source will always change my mind. On the second point, that MPs must divulge e-mail only in extraordinary situations, I'm keen to see if someone would step up to substantiate that important point. Please e-mail me if you can.
PIN traffic isn't archived, and no one, including the PMO, can read email traffic of a Member without both a warrant and permission of the Speaker. So I'd say that's all just a bit too much speculation.
If it's like in the private sector, e-mails are the property of the business that's paying for them. I'd say highly likely they are archived and accessible – even the deleted ones.
Craig Oliver on CTV's QP speculated, seemingly with some thought, that what may have happened is that the RCMP, as part of their Gillani investigations, probably put a tap on cell phones, and they may have informed the PMO of their (Guergis/Jaffer) involvment in an ongoing criminal investigation. This seems more plausible. Reading through emails doesn't seem likely, and in fact, could be a violation of the Privacy Act absent a judicial order.
I think the key to this is Jaffer's 500$ slap for cocaine possession. The Star story says that that was negotiated at the highest levels. Could it be that Jaffer agreed to cooperate with the RCMP and/or the OPP in some sort of fraud or influence peddling investigation? Again, wild speculation, which Harper's 2-day escape to Washington DC won't remove.
Timing doesn't work. Gillani charged some time ago. Any deal with Jaffer also some time ago. Why Thurs evening?
CP story:
Guergis would co-ordinate her official schedule around that of her husband, and the two would do virtually everything together including travel. Last year, they both completed MBA degrees at the same time, the source said.
Both were completed in the Executive MBA program at U of Alberta. U of Ottawa has a similar program. Why not there?
U of Alberta program – meets Fri and Sat every second week in Edmonton over 20 months. Did the public pay to fly Helena and Rahim back and forth to Edmonton every two weeks? Should we?
So now it's a criminal offence to co-ordinate your schedule with that of your spouse ? Good grief.
Nope, but it is to falsify expense accounts.
So which accounts would those be ?
Not saying there are any. That's because MP's expense accounts are unavailable to be scrutinized, I believe. I'd be interested in looking at Guergis's travel expenses to/while in/returning from Edmonton over the 20 months in question. There should be no claims if he/she are travelling there to attend their Executive MBA classes on weekends.
Maybe someone responsible will look into this from the inside.
So yet another fishing trip. You don't know if any expense accounts have been “falsified”, whatever that is supposed to mean, but just maybe they might have been, so let's have a look and see what dirt we can dig up.
How about checking up on the other 142 Conservative MPs just in case their accounts have been “falsified” too. And maybe you could ask the Ethics Commissioner to investigate everyone's mortgages. Oh right, she has said she won't do that.
Well, for one we know that Helena has been quite loose in interpreting rules for election expenses (shoes, socks etc) and in providing her hubby a BB for personal use – on the taxpayer. What's a monthly data/voice plan and long distance charges for business worth? $200/month?$300/month? $400/month? Multiply that by 24 months.
According to Jaffer's missing website: Remarkably, in the spring of 2009, Mr. Jaffer earned an Executive MBA from the University of Alberta, and later, launched a new business. Guergis, it has been confirmed, graduated the same program in the Fall of 2009.
So, flights to and from Ottawa to Edmonton every two weeks for 20 months. That's 40+ flights. Two ways that's 80. Two people that's 160.
And we know Helena likes to fly biz class – or at least not economy. Her flight to PEI was reported to be in the $4k per person range.
We could be talking some real money here. Yeah, bring out the 200 lb test line. My fish detector is going off the scale.
Just remember that up until October 2008, Jaffer was the MP for an Edmonton riding, so he would have been able to fly back and forth to his riding just like any other MP.
As far as the flight to PEI, at that time Guergis was a Cabinet Minister and under Treasury guidelines would have automatically flown business class.
The election expenses have not yet been approved by Elections Canada, so perhaps before you harp on about “falsifying” expenses, you might want to wait a bit. Given that she has clearly provided the receipts, (which Elections Canada have clearly provided to some friendly media folks), it's hard to understand how you can say she was “falsifying” anything.
And as for the Blackberry, $400/month – I hardly think so.
Maybe instead of trying to make up stuff you might want to spend some time checking your facts.
Well, I think we can safely assume that the criminal investigation doesn't include when Helena was Ms Huronia, and kept re-selling raffle tickets for the same bicycle over and over again – statute of limitations etc. I wonder how many kids forked over their hard earned money for a chance at a draw that never happened. And what was her cut of the day's proceedings? Or was it just expenses?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAwZG_Zhl3w
Where there's smoke, there's fire…
Taxpayers foot bill for high-flying Guergis
And I'm sure Rahim enjoyed every minute of his first class world travels.