Dhalla affair is not Parliament’s business

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/05/2009 (6188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Based upon last week’s parliamentary hearing into the allegations by caregivers against the Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, it is impossible to decide who is telling the truth.

It is clear, though, that the hearing should never have happened. Together with a political storm driven by the government’s eagerness to exploit the controversy for all it is worth, it was the latest example of crass partisanship producing tawdry results.

The complaints that Dhalla and her family mistreated foreign caregivers is not a matter for other MPs to concern themselves with, particularly since Dhalla has resigned her shadow-cabinet role pending the matter’s resolution.

If there is a political aspect to it, it is between the MP and her constituents, who may choose to punish her at the polls.

Otherwise, any allegations should be investigated through the proper legal or departmental channels — not through a show trial by her colleagues.

The hearing before the immigration committee shed no light on the plight of caregivers and other foreign workers in Canada, as was the pretence. It was simply an opportunity for Dhalla’s accusers to air their complaints — and MPs to make a show of confronting Dhalla with them — on national television.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the minister of immigration, Jason Kenney — who should not be involved in a matter that might need to be handled by non-partisan officials of his department — reportedly distributed to some of the media documents intended to suggest Dhalla’s culpability.

This after Kenney’s office had repeatedly issued public statements that could prejudice any investigations into the allegations by transparently siding with the complainants, including the same spokesman’s reference to a “Liberal coverup,” even as the minister insisted that “we want to ensure that any process is fair and not politicized.”

Relations in Ottawa have grown so toxic that the Conservatives’ behaviour on this matter has not been out of the ordinary; if a Conservative were accused of poor behaviour in his or her home life, the Liberals would likely overreach as well.

The serious allegations against Dhalla say little about the state of federal politics, but the same cannot be said for the manner in which they have been exploited.