JUDGE GIVES FORMER TORY MP $500 SLAP ON WRIST

Says 'I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one' after drunk
driving, cocaine charges withdrawn

Staff Reporter Justice advocates and opposition politicians are
demanding an explanation after former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer
received a $500 slap on the wrist for careless driving, a muted
conclusion to his highly publicized drunk-driving and
cocaine-possession charges.

Crown attorney Marie Balogh said the initial charges were withdrawn
for "significant legal reasons" and there was no reasonable prospect
of conviction, but refused to elaborate outside the Orangeville courtroom.

"I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one," Justice Douglas
Maund told Jaffer after the former politician and anti-drug activist
pleaded guilty to careless driving.

The so-called "break," and the government silence on the outcome, left
the federal Conservatives vulnerable to charges that their tough
law-and-order program does not extend to one of their own.

"There isn't a Canadian, I think, in the country, with perhaps the
exception of Mr. Jaffer, who doesn't feel that what happened today
appears on the surface to be favourable treatment," NDP justice critic
Joe Comartin, who is also a lawyer, told reporters Tuesday.

"The real problem here, the real injustice on the surface is why would
they have not proceeded with a trial. A one-line explanation from the
prosecutor that she felt there wasn't sufficient evidence to get a
conviction is simply not sufficient in these circumstances, especially
with regard to the fact it's admitted he failed the breathalyzer," he
said.

Police sources say the roots of the withdrawal of the more serious
charges against Jaffer lie in the early hours of Sept. 11 after the
former politician was pulled over for driving 93 km/h in a 50 km/h
zone in Palgrave, east of Orangeville.

A rookie Ontario Provincial Police officer failed to follow proper
procedures during a strip search of Jaffer, 38, causing the Crown to
conclude the case would be open to a Charter challenge, the Star has
learned. While the OPP opposed Jaffer only being charged with careless
driving, the Crown took a steadfast position, sources say.

Brendan Crawley, spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney
General, said in an email that the case was "carefully reviewed" and
there were "issues related to the evidence" that influenced the
Crown's decision for a plea resolution.

In Parliament, government critics called the Conservatives
hypocritical for promoting an aggressive "tough-on-crime" agenda but
staying quiet when it wasn't applied to one of their members.

When Liberal MP Anita Neville (Winnipeg Centre) asked Justice Minister
Rob Nicholson why a self-professed law-and-order government would
tolerate such an affront to the justice system, Nicholson accused her
of hitting a new low.

"The Conservatives are conspicuously silent, only when the law is
being flouted by one of their own," Neville said.

In the lead-up to the 2008 election, Jaffer took a hard line on drug
abuse and drug dealers. His campaign ran radio ads chiding NDP Leader
Jack Layton for comments years earlier that Jaffer cast as broad
support for marijuana use.

The spots said, in part: "Edmontonians understand how difficult it is
to make sure our children make the right choices, especially on
serious issues like drug use. The Conservative party supports
drug-free schools and getting tough with drug dealers who sell illegal
drugs to children. Don't let our schools go up in smoke. Vote
Conservative."

The head of the John Howard Society took a different tack from
political critics, saying Nicholson should take an honest look at the
Jaffer case and apply its lessons to the Conservative criminal justice
agenda. "It's really easy to disparage discretion for judges - until
you need it," Craig Jones told The Canadian Press in an interview.

Jones, who advocates for "effective, just and humane responses to the
causes and consequences of crime," contrasted the treatment of Jaffer
to the Harper government's push to create mandatory minimum sentences
for a whole host of offences.

Conservatives, up to and including the Prime Minister, have publicly
criticized judges for sentences they deemed too light.

But on Tuesday several Conservative MPs stressed that the Jaffer court
proceedings were in Ontario jurisdiction and had nothing to do with
the federal government.

The charges were one of several public embarrassments for Jaffer and
his wife, junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis.

Late last month, Guergis issued her own public apology for "speaking
emotionally" to staff at Charlottetown airport. Witnesses say she
arrived at the last minute, and screamed obscenities at security staff
who asked her to remove her boots.

Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley said plea deals are the normal
purview of Crown and defence, adding that he didn't know why the
charges against Jaffer were dropped.

Justice advocate Joe Wamback said it should be the Crown's obligation
to explain why charges are dropped or lessened.

"We need a justice system that is transparent if we want a justice
system that the public can believe in," said Wamback, founder of the
Canadian Crime Victim Foundation.

Outside the courthouse, Jaffer said he was relieved the ordeal was
over and apologized for his actions.

"I know I should have been more careful. Once again, I apologize for
that and I take full responsibility for my careless driving," he said.

Wearing a dark suit, with his hair gelled, a confident Jaffer was
flanked by family and his lawyer, Howard Rubel, as he spoke briefly
before being whisked away in an SUV.

Jaffer had been spending the summer an hour north of Toronto in Angus,
the hometown of his wife. He was returning from the city when his grey
Ford Escape was intercepted by an OPP officer.

According to an agreed statement, the officer smelled alcohol on
Jaffer's breath. He told her he had consumed two beers two hours
earlier. However, his breathalyzer test measured more than the legal
limit.

Jaffer will pay his $500 fine within the next month. He has already
given $500 to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Jaffer first won the Edmonton-Strathcona seat at the age of 25 in 1997
and quickly rose through the party ranks. When he was re-elected in
2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper named him chair of the
Conservative caucus. He held the riding until he was unseated by an
NDP candidate in 2008.

He offered an emotional apology in the House of Commons in 2001 after
one of his aides was caught impersonating him on a radio show while
Jaffer was busy elsewhere.

With files from Richard Brennan, Rob Ferguson and The Canadian Press