OTTAWA - Conservatives in the Ontario riding of embattled MP Helena Guergis are already chomping at the bit to run in her stead in the next federal election.
The electoral status of the MP for Simcoe-Grey remains in limbo since Prime Minister Stephen Harper removed her from the Conservative caucus over unsubstantiated allegations of offshore financial accounts and claims of blackmail fears due to compromising photos.
"The members of the executive are getting calls all time with people expressing interest," Paul Shaw, spokesman for the Simcoe-Grey Conservative electoral district association, told The Canadian Press.
"If Helena is not going to be the candidate, that they would have an interest in doing it. We get that all the time."
But Shaw and the rest of the riding association executive find themselves in a "no man's land," waiting to get marching orders from the party on when to hold the next candidate selection meeting.
"I hope they give her some reasonable latitude to try and vindicate herself but if they don't do that, and they instruct us and we have to hold a candidate meeting . . . she might not be able to participate in a candidate selection process," said Shaw.
Guergis' tenuous situation in the riding raises questions about what the Conservatives will do should the allegations hanging over her be completely discredited.
No evidence has emerged to date that alleged compromising photos of Guergis and her husband Rahim Jaffer actually exist. And no concrete details have been aired concerning allegations of tax evasion by the couple.
Given how fast and how far Guergis has fallen, would Harper put the exonerated MP back in the Conservative caucus?
Dimitri Soudas, Harper's director of communications, said he would not speculate on any reinstatement.
The RCMP has yet to decide whether it will launch an investigation into the allegations brought to the Tories by a Toronto-based private investigator. Guergis and Jaffer, a former Conservative MP, have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Jaffer and Patrick Glemaud, his business partner at consulting firm Green Power Generation, are to address allegations of improper lobbying Wednesday afternoon at the Commons committee on government operations.
Their appearance is likely to be one of the most widely watched committee hearings in recent years.
NDP Pat Martin had tried to get the appearances postponed, but has now settled on asking for the legal clerk of the House of Commons to attend and make sure nothing said would hamper a future investigation or court case.
"We'll make the most of it, but we do want to avoid it becoming a circus," said Martin. "This isn't the Jerry Springer Show."
Guergis had apparently also been on the list of potential witnesses, but she wrote the clerk this week saying she preferred not to be there Wednesday.
"I would be happy to appear in front of the committee and answer any questions relating to this study at such time once the organizations reviewing these allegations have determined their course of action," Guergis wrote in a letter dated Monday. She suggested May 12 might work for a future appearance.
The Liberals and Bloc Quebecois continued to press the government on what it knew about potential lobbying activities of Jaffer, Glemaud and Guergis, and why it had not taken earlier action.
Glemaud told The Canadian Press the Liberals continue to bark up the wrong tree. He acknowledged meeting with different officials around the Hill, but simply to gather information on environmental project funding -- something quite different than lobbying.
Glemaud, a former government bureaucrat, said he and Jaffer never received a penny from any company in exchange for lobbying work.
Gary Goodyear, the minister in charge of the Southern Ontario economic development agency, indicated in the Commons that he had referred concerns about unregistered lobbying by Glemaud to the commissioner of lobbying -- the first time the Conservatives have mentioned it.
Harper said in the Commons that they had uncovered no evidence that any project linked to Green Power Generation had received government funding.
"Private citizens must respect lobbying rules," Harper said during question period. "As for the government, our responsibility is for decision making and for contracts. In this case, we can find no proof of a contract and certainly no proof that a contract was granted incorrectly."
Shaw, in Guergis' riding, said he expects Guergis would be anxious to run again under the Conservative banner when and if she is able to clear her name.
But he said just having the allegations discredited might not be enough.
"In the court of law, these types of things wouldn't get to first base, unless there's something deeper than what the rumour mill would have it," said Shaw, a Collingwood lawyer.
"But in the court of public opinion, that can make people's minds up, position people's minds pretty quickly. It's pretty hard to rehabilitate ones' character once it's been assassinated by rumour and third-party information and innuendo, and that's where the problem lies."
