Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer has been much in the news the past several months for drunk driving and possession of cocaine charges yet receiving basically a slap on the wrist for the events that occurred that late Sept. 10 night last year. The Toronto Star has an excellent article in Thursday’s paper detailing the events of the night and how he eventually ended up getting busted by Caledon OPP during a routine ride check. The above photo is the spot where Rahim Jaffer was busted in Palgrave.

An excerpt of the article:

Constable Kim Stapleton was going off shift and left her fellow officers at the RIDE program in Palgrave at 12:45 am. A diligent officer, she activated her mobile radar detector as she drove south through Palgrave on Highway 50. The speed limit in the small town was 50 kph. The detector beeped and clocked the approaching Ford Escape SUV at 93 kph.

“I’ve got a high miler here,” Stapleton said into her radio, turning on her lights. She told Sgt. Mike Garant back at the RIDE program that she was pulling over an SUV.

Walking up to the car, the female officer shone her flashlight in at the driver. Rahim Jaffer looked back. Stapleton smelled alcohol and asked Jaffer several questions.

“I smell alcohol, I am doing an alc test,” Stapleton radioed to Garant.

Pulling a roadside breathalyzer unit from her cruiser she administered the test, which showed positive for alcohol. Stapleton radioed for a male officer to join her because she was arresting Jaffer. Stapleton called for a tow truck to take away the Ford.

Sgt. Garant sent an officer down to Stapleton’s position. The officer searched Jaffer and found a bag in his pocket, which turned out to be cocaine.

The police officers looked inside Jaffer’s car and found a stack of Helena Guergis’ business cards. They drove Jaffer to the Caledon East OPP detachment and administered a blood alcohol test, which showed a level above the legal .08 level (police have not released the level or amount of cocaine). In Ontario, the penalty for being found guilty of driving above the legal level is a one year licence suspension, a $1,000 fine and a requirement to install an ignition lock that prevents a vehicle from starting unless the driver provides a sober breath sample.

Officers at the OPP detachment conducted a strip search of Jaffer, which police say is standard protocol when drugs are found on a person.

Stapleton charged Jaffer, 38, with driving over the legal blood alcohol limit, speeding 93 kph in a 50 kph zone; and possession of cocaine. He was released from the station around 6 am on Friday, Sept. 11.

Interesting article from the Caledon Enterprise:

The Town of Caledon has lent its voice to the opposition of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

On August 12, 2009 the Town of New Tecumseth stood up against the proposed harmonization of the Goods and Services Tax with the Provincial Sales Tax, a tax that is set to be implemented in July, 2010.

During Council on January 12, Caledon’s politicians supported a resolution to send their words of displeasure to the province as well.

According to that resolution, Council sees considerable concern amongst residents and business owners about the negative impacts of the harmonized tax.

And according to Caledon’s mayor, the tax could launch another slow down in an already stifled economy.

“I think what’s going to happen is people will quit buying things,” said Mayor Marolyn Morrison. “There’s a slow down now, and I don’t think it’s going to help that at all.”

Morrison believes that the tax is coming, no matter what opposition is shown, due to a deal struck between the federal and provincial government to see the last remaining province without an harmonized tax create one. But, she said, having the Town on the record with their opposition is a positive thing and resident and municipality complaint should hopefully open some eyes.

“I would like to think that when AMO (Association of Municipalities of Ontario) speaks and all these municipalities speak, the province will sit up and say you know what, they’ve got a point.

“But I’ve seen municipalities go through this before with other things. Sometimes you sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into preparing briefs to show just how negative something is going to be, and then, in the end, you should have just saved your money.”

Caledon’s MPP Sylvia Jones has long been a critic of the tax, and shared many of the sentiments expressed by Caledon’s Council.

“The HST is a tax grab, short and to the point,” said Jones. “There’s going to be literally hundreds of items that right now are not taxed with PST, but will be as of Canada Day.”

Jones explained that she believes the Liberals are entrenched in the move because of the massive revenue they will earn from the harmonization of the tax. She doesn’t know how effective the municipalities displeasure will be, but supported the local politicians who are acting on behalf of their constituents displeasure and told the residents to make their voices heard.

“The only time I see any change in government direction is when they hear from the residents,” said Jones. “The most recent example I can give you is when (Premier Dalton) McGuinty brought forward a law or proposal which was going to change how young people’s drivers licenses are handled in the first couple years. Facebook groups started, people came forward and they (government) backed down. I think you have to constantly tell your elected officials, whether you’re in opposition or not, what they’re doing right, or what they’re doing wrong.”

Jones said that Caledon residents will see increased costs in gas, home heating oil, television and phone bills, funeral expenses, the purchase of a home and legal fees. “Even anytime you enter your kids in any type of sport. Baseball, soccer, hockey, you name it. All those things are going to have HST and right now do not.”

Jones said that she is still hearing from constituents who are stopping her in the street and telling her how upset they are by the harmonized tax. She believes that the province has not heard enough resident complaint as she said because the provincial cabinet didn’t feature any changes of position for any finance ministers, “It doesn’t appear Dalton (McGuinty) is backing down from it (HST).”

Morrison mentioned that the Town of Caledon staff has been instructed to create a report to bring to council showing what the exact impact of the tax will be.

“It will be an interesting report to see,” she said. “Because there are supposed to be savings within the tax too, but our staff will show both sides.”

Caledon’s Mayor said that there are some situations where the tax is supposed to save residents money, such as in the purchase of cars, but she said even those savings can be masked, as it could be that the retailer gets a savings they are supposed to pass on to the consumer, but it could be their choice.

“My understanding is it will be a savings in some products, but that it is only a savings if the retailer doesn’t take up the room. So if the retailers lower their price the amount that is saved, that’s when you actually see savings. And with the economic hardships retailers have seen in the recession, I can’t see any lowering their price. Can you?”

Caledon will find out this July.

The former MP announced this week that he has officially submitted his papers to seek the nomination, and that those papers have been accepted.

Mr. Turner, 60, represented the riding of Halton-Peel from 1988 until 1993, having been elected as part of the second Progressive Conservative majority government of Brian Mulroney. He sought the leadership of the party in ‘93 when Mr. Mulroney stepped aside, gaining 76 first-ballot votes before dropping out of the race eventually won by Kim Campbell.

Mr. Turner served as Minister of National Revenue in the short-lived Campbell government before losing his seat in the Tory debacle later that year.

Garth Turner returned to Parliament representing Halton as a Conservative under Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the 2006 election, but soon found himself at odds with his leader and was kicked out from caucus later that year. He eventually joined the Liberals after briefly sitting as an independent, and was defeated in last year’s federal election by Lisa Raitt, now federal Natural Resources Minister.

Riding Association President Jeff May has also announced plans to seek the nomination. No date has been announced for the nomination, but Mr. Turner said he expects that will happen soon. David Tilson of the Conservative Party is the current sitting member in the Dufferin-Caledon riding. Tilson is expected to run again and is widely considered the favorite in the mostly conservative riding.