DRUG, DRUNK DRIVING CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST FORMER TORY
MP

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer pleaded guilty today to careless
driving after charges of speeding, drunken driving and possession of
cocaine were withdrawn in an Orangeville court.

Jaffer, 38, will pay his $500 fine within the next month. He has
already given $500 to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

"I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one," Justice Doug
Maund told Jaffer in court after the Crown announced it was dropping
the other charges.

Outside the courthouse, Jaffer admitted, "I'm sorry. I know this was a
serious matter," adding that he was relieved by the resolution.

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

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, who is married to federal Tory cabinet minister Helena
Guergis, was arrested shortly pulled over just after 12:45 a.m. on
Sept. 11 in the village of Palgrave, east of Orangeville.

An Ontario Provincial Police officer had clocked Jaffer going 93 km/h
in a 50 km/ zone.

Jaffer told the officer he was returning from Toronto, where he had
consumed two beers two hours earlier.

His breathalyzer test measured more than 80 milligrams of alcohol, the
court was told.

He was charged with cocaine possession and driving over the legal
blood-alcohol limit. His licence was suspended for 90 days.

However, Crown Marie Balogh told the court the prosecution dropped the
more serious charges for "legal reasons," saying that there was no
reasonable prospect of conviction.

"The charges of driving over the legal limit and possession of any
illegal substance has always been refuted and I think the withdrawal
of those charges vindicates that refutation today," Rubel said.

"What Mr. Jaffer did was drive without paying to how fast he was
going."

Jaffer had been spending the summer an hour north in Angus, the
hometown of his wife, who is federal minister of state for the status
of women.

He lost his Edmonton-Strathcona seat, which he first won at the age of
25 in 1997, in the 2008 federal election. He and Guergis, the MP for
Simcoe-Grey, were married in a spur of the moment ceremony the day
after his defeat.

A close friend and colleague said after the arrest that the charges
were "absolutely devastating" for Jaffer and his family.

"Being a public figure, the damage is already done. This is extremely
harsh for him, for his family," said Patrick Glemaud, CEO of Green
Power Generation Corp., an alternative energy company he co-founded
with Jaffer.

"I'm supporting him 100 per cent," said Glemaud, who met with Jaffer
in Ottawa yesterday. "The presumption of innocence must stand. I think
he's a great guy."

Jaffer was born in Kampala, Uganda, and immigrated to Edmonton with
his family as a boy to escape persecution under the iron-fist rule of
Idi Amin.

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

Jaffer was re-elected in 2006 and named Conservative caucus chairman
by Harper.

Guergis herself had to apologize earlier this month for "speaking
emotionally" to staff at Charlottetown airport. According to
witnesses, she arrived at the last minute, berated Air Canada
officials for their slowness, screamed obscenities at security staff
who asked her to take off her boots.