Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Too soon?

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, May 15, 2009 4:19pm - 7 Comments

Concerns are raised that Jason Kenney has not acted duly impartial in regards to the allegations made against Ruby Dhalla. Meanwhile, at our little party, the minister makes sure to avoid any perception of impropriety.

It all started when the new immigration minister found a hot-off-the-presses copy of Maclean’s. He was under the impression winning the title put him on the cover of the contest-sponsoring magazine, but that was definitely not his face, often described as Fred Flintstonesque, on the front. In his place was an eye-popping, cleavage-busting shot of Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, which would not look out of place fronting an edition of the men’s magazine Maxim, which rated her third sexiest politician on the planet last year.

Kenney thumbed the pages filled with 20 flattering photos framing a lengthy article on Dhalla’s life story and the latest brouhaha over the treatment of nannies in her family home and suddenly burst into laughter: “I put her there!” he howled, jabbing the magazine cover.

Tags: Jason Kenney, nannies, Ruby Dhalla

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Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

Classy dude.
anon

Aaron, you may want to quote the next paragraph of Don Martin’s article:

“Conspiracy theorists will seize on that as confirmation the immigration minister helped feed the media a sensational story that has become an ugly smear on the Toronto-area MP’s resume, but he was kidding.”

Andrew (not Potter or Coyne)

Is it a conspiracy theory when one of his aids was observed meeting with the nannies’ representative? Interesting that he wasn’t willing to give a blanket denial of any involvement, only saying that he had not met with the nannies personally.

Ted

Is it a conspiracy theory when Kenney met with their advocate on April 26 at which the representative said she wanted to “work closely with him”?

Is it a conspiracy theory when one of Kenney’s aids was handing out pamphlets at the committee hearing attaching what it claimed was Dhalla’s signature on some somewhat damning documents? It wasn’t Dhalla’s but why were they handing this out and why were they lying about it?

Is it a conspiracy theory when Kenney says he doesn’t interfere in individual cases but then also guarantees that these two nannies will not be deported?

I don’t know who is guilty of what here, but there is a heck of a lot that makes you go “hmmmmm”.

john g

Why stop at the next paragraph Anon? Let’s look at the next few that Aaron skipped over:

Conspiracy theorists will seize on that as confirmation the Immigration Minister helped feed media the sensational story, which has become an ugly smear on the Toronto-area MP’s resume, but he was kidding.

There are cozy elements between the angry nannies, their advocates and this hands-on minister, who often babysits the Conservative hopeful who will try again to defeat Ms. Dhalla in her Brampton riding, but there’s no proof Mr. Kenney sponsored it or forced it onto the parliamentary agenda.

Besides, the background buzz in Liberal MP circles almost makes you wonder if Ms. Dhalla’s own party is more eager to see her take the fall.

It’s far easier to find a Liberal to badmouth the colorful MP than a Conservative willing to take a cheap shot. Many are willing to share their favorite “I, Ruby Dhalla” anecdote, portraying an MP who they say runs to every microphone offering self-promotion opportunities, but flees when there’s heavy lifting for the party to be done

But I’ve long since given up on expecting Aaron to give us all the story. All we get are the cherry picked parts that reinforce his “Conservatives=root of all evil” narrative.