Political suicide has been committed today; twice even, one in Victoria, and the other off in Ottawa. Ms. Helena Guergis as you have most likely heard about, has resigned her position as Minister of State (Status of Women). The other, is Mr. Kash Heed, leaving the post of Solicitor-General and Minister of Public Safety.
Update (December 2011): Kash Heed is still in the political wilderness over campaigning financing breaches. Helena Guergis however was practically framed by Stephen Harper. While she did make some poor calls in the past (the airport business, etc.), the allegations that she did anything wrong in this latest round of beyond that were unproveable. She stayed on as an independnet member in the House of Commons, ran in the May 2011 election and was defeated. She was taken down single handedly by Mr. Harper. She now plans to sue the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister and members of the PMO for defamation of character.
It has been a day since Helena Guergis' husband was linked to fraudsters claiming unrestricted access to the Prime Minister's Office. In a surprising move, Mr. Harper called in the RCMP to investigate the junior minister, she later resigned. Across the country in the capital of British Columbia, Kash Heed resigned after the police accused the minister of violating the Election Act. Both legislators insist they will retain their seat in the Assembly and the House of Commons.
Now for the political spin. Will Helena Guergis survive in the next election? Geurgis' seat of Simcoe-Grey is solidly Conservative, and if anyone is going to pick it up, it will be the Liberals. Still, this is the best election since 2000 for the Liberals, and if I were in Simcoe-Grey, I would be starting to question things. Kash Heed, who by the way was a former police chief in Vancouver (irony, I love it), might have a tougher challenge in front of him in 2013. New Democrats came close there, and this seat might help us form the government in BC. In an interesting note from CTV, this is the third Solicitor-General since 2008 to resign in the current Executive Council. I sense a pattern developing.
Update (December 2011): Kash Heed is still in the political wilderness over campaigning financing breaches. Helena Guergis however was practically framed by Stephen Harper. While she did make some poor calls in the past (the airport business, etc.), the allegations that she did anything wrong in this latest round of beyond that were unproveable. She stayed on as an independnet member in the House of Commons, ran in the May 2011 election and was defeated. She was taken down single handedly by Mr. Harper. She now plans to sue the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister and members of the PMO for defamation of character.
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