Don Martin: Dhalla witch-hunt ends in a whimper
Don Martin They didn't quite admit it was a misplaced political witch hunt, but the parliamentary committee probing nanny abuse allegations in the family home of high-profile MP Ruby Dhalla found no fault with her treatment of caregivers.
After dragging the Liberal MP into the national spotlight to be confronted by sobbing nannies alleging they'd been overworked, underpaid and perhaps illegally treated by the Dhalla family during their brief bouts of employment, a committee report to be released next week shrugs its collective shoulder. It's up to federal and provincial agencies to do any follow-up investigations, the all-party immigration committee concludes in a report leaked to me Thursday. Left unsaid was the impropriety of having an MP's personal life subjected to a public inquisition for obvious political reasons. After all, the committee was extremely selective in its witness list, eagerly calling forth nannies and caregiver advocates seeking their full-time entry into Canada from an accommodating Conservative immigration minister. But when a former employer of a star-witness nanny offered to testify about his negative experiences with her, he was turned away.
The final report devotes far more space to the nanny version of events than the MP's rebuttal, neglecting to reference Ms. Dhalla's documentation to back her arguments or make any reference to the wildly changing stories put forward by the nannies. While there is no finding of the abuse so tearfully alleged by the nannies, Conservatives and New Democrat MPs still amended a key recommendation to insist caregivers of the future be spared anything beyond basic household duties -- a clear shot at unsubstantiated allegations they were forced by the Dhalla family to shovel snow and clean cars. "The committee regrets that such situations may occur under the live-in caregiver program," the MPs concluded by way of Dhalla judgement. Funny, but there's no similar regret expressed by Conservative MPs dragging one of their own, albeit a Liberal MP, through the mud in the pursuit of claiming her Brampton seat in the next election. And so the Toronto Star's great ‘nannygate' investigation ends with a committee whimper that proves nothing except that politics is the worst of all bloodsports. The actual recommendations on caregiver immigration matters are laughably vague.
They suggested three options -- grant automatic permanent status, grant resident status after 24 months of work or, get this, offer norecommendation. The Liberals are allegedly plotting a minority protest report to enhance Ruby Dhalla's version of events. They should save themselves the effort. By deferring any continuation of this smear campaign to "authorized" authorities, they reluctantly admitted they had been splashing around tar and feathers in an unauthorized area.
