Ontario court dismisses Guergis defamation suit against Harper, Tories

OTTAWA – The Superior Court of Ontario has rejected a defamation suit launched by a former Conservative cabinet minister against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Tories.

The ruling by Judge Charles Hackland stated that the hiring and firing of cabinet ministers was beyond the court’s jurisdiction.

Helena Guergis was seeking $1.3 million in damages for her highly public removal from cabinet, and ouster from the Conservative caucus, in 2010.

Her firing came amid allegations she was caught up in criminal activity with her businessman husband Rahim Jaffer, himself a former top Conservative MP, but the RCMP later said it had no basis for charges against the pair.

A central point in Guergis’s lawsuit was that she was defamed when Harper told reporters that he’d received serious allegations about her, and then again when a letter was sent to the RCMP citing allegations received by the Prime Minister’s Office.

But the judgment says that the Crown prerogative to hire and fire cabinet members would be “rendered meaningless” if the Guergis suit was upheld, and that future prime ministers could be required to answer in court for decisions made on cabinet membership.

A spokesman for the prime minister said there would be no comment on the court ruling.