Yesterday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper did what no prime minister has done in nearly 25 years: He called the cops on one of his own cabinet ministers. After doing so, he held a brief “media availability” in the foyer of the House of Comons where he read a statement and answered a few questions. Here is my transcript of the English-language part of those proceedings (my written French leaving much to be desired):
Harper: Last night, my office became aware of serious allegations regarding the conduct of the Honourable Helena Guergis. These allegations relate to the conduct of Ms. Guergis and do not involve any other minister, MP, senator or federal government employee. I've referred the allegations to the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and to the RCMP. Under the circumstances, I will not comment on them further.
Ms. Guergis offered her resignation from the ministry and I accepted it. Pending a resolution, she will sit outside of the Conservative Party caucus. In the meantime, I have asked the Honourable Rona Ambrose to assume additional responsibility for the Status of Women portfolio.
Dimitri Soudas, Press Secretary to the prime minister: We'll start with Craig Oliver, CTV.
Oliver: Prime Minister, is there any evidence at all that Ms. Guergis might have communicated with members of your government in an effort to further her husband's business interests?
Harper: I have no allegations that would pertain to any other minister, any member of parliament, any other senator or any employee of the Government of Canada.
Soudas: On va continuer avec Daniel Thibault, Radio-Canada.
[Thibault asks Harper, in French, if the allegations which the prime minister heard about the night before had anything to do with Guergis' husband Rahim Jaffer. The prime minister responds first in French and then says…)
Harper: Just let me answer that in English as well. I'm not going to answer questions about what other individuals these allegations may touch upon. Mr. Jaffer is a private citizen. I just do want to say in response to yesterday's story, I think my office said this already but let me repeat it, any suggestion that Mr. Jaffer has had an open door to my office is false.
Soudas: Continue with David Akin, Canwest. We'll continue with David Akin, Canwest. Thank you, Jennifer.
Akin: Prime Minister, I just wondered, when you called the Oliphant inquiry, one of your motives you said at the time was because you were concerned about the integrity of the Prime Minister's Office and I wonder today as well if you have any concerns about the integrity of the Prime Minister's Office given what we know and if this is the reason for your actions today.
Harper: No, not at all. The information we've received did not indicate any such thing. I think you know our views, how we conduct ourselves are clear. We have clear rules. We expect people to follow them. And, David, if they don't, we take appropriate action. And I have no reason to believe anybody on my staff has acted improperly.
Soudas: Nous avons temps pour une dernière question. Hugo de Grandpré, La Presse.
[De Grandpré then asks in French if Ms. Guergis did not resign but was, in fact, fired. Harper responding in French says that, given the circumstances, it's pretty much one and the same.]
Jennifer Ditchburn, The Canadian Press: Mr. Harper, are you disappointed in Ms. Guergis?
Harper: Let me just very quickly answer that even though you're not on a list. Look, of course we're – of course I'm disappointed with this. You know I hope – of course we all hope in these circumstances things will resolve themselves in a way that's satisfactory to everybody but, no, I'm very disappointed. It's a very sad day. But, you know, in this business you get the brick bats as well as the bouquets so when you confront these things, you deal with them and that's what we've done.
Soudas: Thank you very much, everybody. Merci beaucoup. Thank you.