On Monday, December 13th, Canada’s lobbying commissioner, Karen Shepherd, ruled former Alberta Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer breached the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct for failing to register as a lobbyist in 2009 when attempting to gain $178M in federal contracts for his Green Power Generation Corp., a ruling without fines or jail time.
Jaffer denied the charge during testimony before the Commons government operations commission in June 2010 stating that he didn’t need to register since his bids were unsuccessful and he didn’t secure any contracts. During Monday’s ruling Shepherd said registration is required even if a contract is not awarded.
In July 2011, Jaffer’s wife, Helena Guergis, also a former Conservation MP, was found guilty of violating Parliament’s conflict of interest code by using her position to help benefit her husband’s business.
The take away lesson here is that the MP family that plays together may end up paying together.
Christina Johnson is a proud born and raised Torontonian. Christina has worked as a journalist for nearly a decade having contributed to several large publications including the Yahoo News and the Financial Post. As a journalist for White Pine Tribune, Christina covers national and international developments.
