Stephen Harper's senior Manitoba minister has launched a public attack on a journalist from his province over her reporting of the Rahim Jaffer affair, calling it a "smear job."
In an angry letter, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews accuses Winnipeg Free Press reporter Mia Rabson, the only Manitoba reporter covering Parliament Hill, of advancing the "Liberal spin."
Mr. Toews writes that Ms. Rabson "regularly engages" in "conspiracy theory" stories "because they don't involve a lot of thought or work."
"They just involve innuendo and superficial understanding of the issue. In fact, the more superficial, the better, because a thoughtful examination of the issue quickly destroys the conspiracy," he writes.
The minister does not mince his words, arguing that Ms. Rabson was merely parroting the suggestion by Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville that the Conservative government was "falling down on the job" because of the sentence meted out to the former Tory MP.
Ms. Neville had asked the government in Question Period yesterday how its tough-on-crime views squared with the sentence.
Mr. Jaffer was fined $500 after pleading guilty to a charge of careless driving yesterday. But more serious charges of drinking and driving, cocaine possession and speeding were dropped.
It is not clear why. And questions have been raised on Parliament Hill about whether Mr. Jaffer was given a lighter sentence because of his connections. He is married to junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis and in the last election he lost his Edmonton seat to the NDP.
Mr. Toews, meanwhile, was scrummed outside of the House yesterday about the Jaffer sentence. He said that the sentence was a provincial matter. Mr. Jaffer was sentenced in Orangeville, Ont.
Mr. Toews said: "I believe the Liberal - Liberal government in Ontario would be responsible for that."
Ms. Rabson wrote: "It's certainly a constant refrain from Toews, Nicholson and company that the Liberals are responsible whenever there is some evidence someone isn't getting the punishment they deserve."
Mr. Toews is taking offence with the way in which Ms. Rabson described his response as "political posturing." He is also upset that she noted the provincial judge on the case had been appointed to the bench by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who was the Ontario attorney-general at that time.
"For Mia Rabson … the smoking gun in the case that led to a Conservative conspiracy was the political affiliation of the judge prior to his appointment to the bench in 2000."
Mr. Toews, who also names CanWest reporter David Akin in his letter, notes that the judge is not responsible for the sentence. Instead, the decision to accept the plea bargain lay with the Crown Attorney.
And then he can't resist one last dig at Ms. Rabson, saying that she "rarely disappoints" in running "roughshod over the facts."
Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox says that he is confident that Ms. Rabson reports fairly.
Although, he says he doesn't normally respond to political attacks, he did note in this case that "politicians love to attack the media to help divert attention away from what the politicians themselves are doing."
"Vic has a long tradition of using the Free Press as a villain," Mr. Cox says. "He writes regularly to his electronic following about how terrible the newspaper is, how we have a Liberal agenda, etc. If you read our editorial page regularly you will know how humorous that suggestion is."
Ms. Rabson was nominated for a Michener Award last year for a project she did with the Winnipeg Free Press on Manitoba's child-welfare system.
(File photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)