by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
February 4, 2005
Earlier this week, former embattled Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Judy Sgro, launched a $750,000 lawsuit against Harjit Singh, some of his family members and a friend. The suit accuses the defendants of libel, slander and conspiracy over their allegations in the visa-for-food scandal.
In a last ditch effort to stave off the execution of the removal order that had been outstanding against him for more than 10 years, the Indian national alleged that he had made a deal with Sgro and that she reneged. The restaurant owner alleged in an affidavit that was filed in Federal Court that Sgro had agreed to help him remain in the country in return for him supplying food and workers to her campaign office during last year’s election campaign. Singh further alleged that Sgro reneged on the deal and had him arrested after one of her staff began talking about "the deal".
From a purely legal point of view, Sgro will win the lawsuit. The now deported Singh has demonstrated that his looseness with the truth would make Premier Dalton McGuinty blush. Singh claimed that allegations that he failed to report to an immigration office as required, and that subsequently led to his being incarcerated last December, were trumped up by Sgro in an effort to hide their agreement. But video surveillance tape that was produced at his detention review, clearly demonstrated that he had not only had a relative sign in on his behalf, he had not even entered the building on that day. His credibility as a witness approaches zero.
But from a political point of view, neither Judy Sgro, nor her head cheerleader, Prime Minister Paul Martin, can win. The Singh allegations were not an isolated event. Last November, it surfaced that alina Balaican, a 25-year-old Romanian stripper, was granted a temporary residency permit in exchange for her and her husband’s work during Sgro’s 2004 reelection campaign. This revelation did not cause Sgro to resign, as did Singh’s, but she hasn’t taken any legal action against the stripper and her hubby either.
In his decision that dismissed Harjit Singh’s attempt to have the removal order stayed, Federal Court Justice Michael Phelan wrote, in part,
"The essence of Singh’s case is that an experienced politician would risk her career, her reputation and legal sanctions to assist a person who she does not know in exchange for free pizzas and a few election volunteers, and that the matter would forever remain secret. This thesis does not make common sense."
With all due respect to Justice Phelan, he was wrong. at least that’s not the way that a vast majority of the public saw it. This is not to say that Sgro did what Singh had alleged she had done. But had Sgro had a reputation as a competent minister whose actions and ethics were beyond reproach, the allegations that she had been bought for a pizza and a couple of slices of garlic bread would have been simply laughed off. Not only did the public take these allegations seriously; the former minister did as well--she resigned because of them.
Had Sgro done the honourable thing and resigned after the strippergate allegations surfaced, it is doubtful that the allegations of the pizza guy (30 minutes and he’s free) would have received the attention that it did. after all, his allegations were known as far back as last November when word first leaked out about Balaican’s work on Sgro’s campaign, but remained in the background. Had Sgro stepped down last November, and, in one of the government’s favourite buzz expressions, let the Ethics Commissioner do his job, the former Minister would have disappeared from the media’s radar screen and would not have been the subject of further questions during Question Period.
Sgro has nothing to gain by continuing her lawsuit. If she does continue, it will only because of the government’s desire to bully their opponents, a tactic that is being used more all the time. It would be similar to Pierre Pettigrew’s attempts to silence the churches in their opposition to same sex marriage.
If Judy Sgro had any brains she would cut her losses and withdraw her civil suit. Unlike selling out her office, being an intelligent and competent Minister of the Crown has never been an allegation made against the York West MP. She runs the risk of having more disturbing details of her come out while she defends herself from allegations that never should have had to be taken seriously in the first place.
Judy Sgro was the author of her own misfortune. It’s about time that she realized this.