Immigration minister
resigns
due to allegations of Harjit
Singh who is fighting deportation to India
OTTAWA, Jan. 14, 2005
CP
Judy Sgro, who was already on political
life support, succumbed today to a fresh allegation of wrongdoing
and resigned as federal immigration minister.
Judy Sgro
But she said she was only stepping down to allow her to prove
she's innocent and fight to clear her name.
She became the first casualty in Prime Minister Paul Martin's
seven-month-old minority government, which limped back to
power in June on promises of being squeaky clean after the
sponsorship scandal.
Sgro's departure came after allegations made by a Toronto
pizzeria owner, reported in today's Toronto Star, that she
promised him asylum in return for providing food and workers
for her re-election campaign last June.
Harjit Singh, who is fighting deportation to India, claims
in a sworn Federal Court affidavit that when word of their
arrangement leaked out, she ordered his deportation to "save
her job."
Sgro dismissed the matter as "outrageous fabrications"
and part of "a smear campaign."
She said doesn't even know Singh and has never spoken
with him.
"It's a totally false allegation which is why I'm so
furious that I've taken the unusual step of stepping aside
from cabinet and insisting to the prime minister that I had
to be free to defend myself," Sgro told CBC-TV.
Sgro suggested desperation might be the motive for Singh's
allegation.
"He's been avoiding deportation in this country for
years, he's at a point now where he's going to be deported,
he's desperate and he's going to do anything and say anything
that will keep him in the country."
Sgro had already been battling for her job amid allegations
she gave priority immigration treatment to a Romanian stripper
who had also worked on her campaign in her Toronto riding.
Those allegations are under investigation by the federal
ethics commissioner.
Martin had rebuffed persistent Opposition calls for Sgro's
resignation by asking for time for the stripper allegations
to be investigated.
He changed his mind after the latest allegations, accepting
Sgro's resignation "with regret," and suggesting
he was keeping the cabinet door open for her.
"I continue to support Judy Sgro," Martin said
today. "I think that she was a very strong minister and
I think that she brought a great contribution to citizenship
and immigration and I look forward to her continuing public
career."
He said he had not asked her to quit and that it was Sgro's
initiative to step aside.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper slammed Martin's handling
of the matter.
"This was obvious to everybody months ago that this
minister had to go and I'm surprised that the prime minister
couldn't provide leadership and it finally took her own resignation
to get the change," he said in Regina.
"I think the pattern is that this prime minister doesn't
act, he dithers and the dithering in this case allowed problems
to build in the immigration department."
Martin said Sgro's resignation would not put a stop to the
ethics commissioner's probe and Harper said he was eager for
the work to be completed.
"The allegation here is that Immigration Department
business was being done in a election office for election
purposes . . . and I think we have to get to the bottom,"
Harper said.
Sgro was replaced by fellow Toronto-area MP Joe Volpe, who
moved into the portfolio from the Human Resources Department.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Lucienne Robillard takes
on Volpe's responsibilities at Human Resources, in addition
to carrying her existing portfolio.
Sgro, a former Toronto city councillor, was first elected
to the Commons in a 1999 byelection and re-elected in 2000
and 2004.
She worked her way up from the backbenches, serving as a
committee member, a parliamentary secretary and chair of a
caucus committee on urban issues where she used her background
in municipal politics to good effect.
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