If Jaffer has one of his wife's GOVT. ISSUED Blackberries that he's using for his personal & business use does that mean the Govt. (taxpayer) is paying the bill on it every month?
Martin Paquet, a spokesman for Guergis, confirmed that Jaffer had one of Guergis’s official wireless devices but defended its use by saying it is a common practice among MPs.
“Who uses these devices is not spelled out (by House of Commons rules),” said Paquet. “So it’s left to the discretion of the MP. What I’m told is many MPs give one to their spouse.”
That statement, though, would seem to contradict the manual, issued to MPs by the House of Commons, about the use of wireless devices, computers, telecommunications services, furniture and other equipment and services each MP needs to administer his or her office.
The manual says MPs are provided with “goods and services to carry out their parliamentary functions” and goes on to define parliamentary functions as “duties and activities related to the position of Member of the House of Commons wherever performed and include public and official business, and partisan matters, but do not include the private business interests of a Member or a Member’s immediate family.”
Comartin said Jaffer’s use of his wife’s parliamentary mobile device is “ethically wrong and politically stupid.”
And, in the view of Comartin and other political opponents of the Conservatives, it draws Guergis into the allegations that Jaffer was trading on his insider connections for his own private business interests.
3 comments:
Here's some pertinent stuff from the Gazette:
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Martin Paquet, a spokesman for Guergis, confirmed that Jaffer had one of Guergis’s official wireless devices but defended its use by saying it is a common practice among MPs.
“Who uses these devices is not spelled out (by House of Commons rules),” said Paquet. “So it’s left to the discretion of the MP. What I’m told is many MPs give one to their spouse.”
That statement, though, would seem to contradict the manual, issued to MPs by the House of Commons, about the use of wireless devices, computers, telecommunications services, furniture and other equipment and services each MP needs to administer his or her office.
The manual says MPs are provided with “goods and services to carry out their parliamentary functions” and goes on to define parliamentary functions as “duties and activities related to the position of Member of the House of Commons wherever performed and include public and official business, and partisan matters, but do not include the private business interests of a Member or a Member’s immediate family.”
Comartin said Jaffer’s use of his wife’s parliamentary mobile device is “ethically wrong and politically stupid.”
And, in the view of Comartin and other political opponents of the Conservatives, it draws Guergis into the allegations that Jaffer was trading on his insider connections for his own private business interests.
Read more:
http://ow.ly/1wuUK
Probably!
Thanks for the info JimBobby...
I found this from an article in today's Star:
"For example, Jaffer had been using an email account out of Guergis’ parliamentary office and a wireless device paid for by taxpayers."
Here's the link to the article:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/793462--harper-s-office-rattled-by-jaffer-controversy
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