Guergis says Prime Minister’s Office ran smear campaign against her

Helena Guergis blames Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office for orchestrating a smear campaign that got her ousted from cabinet and caucus.

“It was the prime minister’s office communications office that was on a destructive campaign perpetrating the false allegations that have damaged my reputation,” she said.

In a sometimes teary news conference in Collingwood, Ont., in her Simcoe-Grey riding, Guergis said she begged Harper for an explanation for her ejection from the party, to no avail.

“I pleaded with Mr. Harper to tell what he thought I had done wrong in order to be able to address these allegations head on and to be able to defend myself.

“Unfortunately, he refused.”

At the time of her ouster, Harper said serious criminal allegations had surfaced against her and her husband, former MP Rahim Jaffer. Harper sent the matter to the Mounties, fired Guergis from cabinet and exiled her from caucus.

The RCMP eventually cleared Guergis, saying there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by her.

That cut no ice with the PMO, Guergis said.

“The prime minister’s office still made it seem as though I was guilty of something, even after I was proven innocent.”

She said the government hampered her efforts to obtain the RCMP report through access to information and the Privacy Act.

“The government has gone out of its way to restrict access to this basic information,” she said.

Earlier in the day, Harper was asked about Guergis and said she was turfed because of political troubles.

Without mentioning her by name, he made it clear the caucus wouldn’t have her back.

Guergis, who is running as an independent in the Georgian Bay riding she first won in 2004, said her life was made miserable and her reputation ruined by the accusations.