See Updates in last post....
CBC radio has the ethics commissioner on the radio now. Apparently, the referral to her was "not an official request" and she has very little to go on. There were 2 main criteria for an official referral/request to her to look into things, and she doesn't have either (one I think being the specific part of the Act that is in question).
Also, apparently the ethics commissioner stated she lacks much information to do anything...
Here is some more info in this story:
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/201...missioner.html
Earlier Thursday, ethics commissioner Mary Dawson said she hasn't received a request to investigate Guergis, despite the Prime Minister's Office saying it sent Dawson information about "serious and credible allegations."
Dawson told CBC Radio's The Current host Anna Maria Tremonti that she has not received an official request from Harper to investigate anything relating to Guergis, who remains the MP for the Ontario riding of Simcoe-Grey.
In an email Thursday morning to CBC News, the PMO's Soudas acknowledged Harper did not request or direct any specific action and did not provide "specific details" of the allegations to Dawson or the Mounties, but told them the source of the allegations.
UPDATED
The latest in this saga....
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/201...-responds.html
MP Helena Guergis was informed about the allegations against her, the Prime Minister's Office said on Wednesday, contradicting earlier comments made by the lawyer representing the former cabinet minister.
In an interview with CBC News, Howard Rubel said his client has yet to be told what allegations led Prime Minister Stephen Harper to kick her out of caucus and contact the RCMP.
But Dimitri Soudas, a spokesman for the prime minister, told CBC News that a Conservative Party lawyer informed Guergis of the allegations last Friday, the day she was ousted from caucus.
Soudas said the allegations against Guergis are "serious and credible" and that a Conservative Party lawyer was asked to inform her because of "legal issues".
Also,
Liberal MP Mark Holland questioned why meetings between Jaffer and the Conservative parliamentary secretary in charge of a billion-dollar green infrastructure fund weren't reported to the federal lobbying commissioner.
Neither Jaffer nor Patrick Glémaud, his business partner at Green Power Generation, is registered as a lobbyist.
Holland described the meetings as "the very definition of lobbying, none of it registered."
Transport Minister John Baird acknowledged Brian Jean, his parliamentary secretary, met with Jaffer and Glémaud, but rejected their proposals outright.
"No funding was recommended to any of the projects in question that were discussed, and that is something that has been very clearly stated by the prime minister and the secretary," Baird told the House.
Earlier in the day, Environment Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged that Jaffer asked him in a "30-second conversation" more than a year ago whether he handled the green fund, and he told him he didn't.
Original Posting Below
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has asked former cabinet minister Helena Guergis to sit outside the Conservative caucus while the RCMP investigates "serious" allegations over her conduct.
In an email sent Friday before the prime minister held a news conference in Ottawa, Guergis announced she had resigned as minister of state for the status of women, ending her tumultuous tenure in Harper's cabinet.
Harper said he learned of the allegations against Guergis on Thursday night and immediately referred them to the Mounties, as well as the commissioners for ethics and conflict of interest. In the meantime, he has asked Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose to assume Guergis's cabinet responsibilities.
"Those allegations had to do with Ms. Guergis's conduct and do not involve any other minister, member of Parliament, or federal government employee," Harper said, without providing more details about the allegations.