Judy Sgro
|
|
Judysgro.jpg
Hon. Judy Sgro
The Honourable Judy Sgro P.C. M.P. (born December 16, 1944, Moncton, New Brunswick) is a Canadian politician.
Sgro, the Member of Parliament for the riding of York West, was first elected in a 1999 by-election and was re-elected in the general elections of 2000 and 2004. She was made Minister of Citizenship and Immigration on December 12, 2003.
A former Toronto City Councillor, she was named chairperson of the Prime Minister's "Caucus Task Force on Urban Issues" shortly after her first election. She was a Toronto City/Metro Councillor from 1994 to 1999 and a City Councillor in North York, Ontario from 1987 to 1994.
In November, 2004 controversy began to surround Sgro as questions arose surrounding her activities during the June election earlier that year. Several members of her ministerial staff had filed expense claims to travel to and work in her riding throughout the campaign ending on election day. More serious claims were also raised when Opposition Conservative MPs claimed she had given a special immigration permit to a campaign supporter — specifically a Romanian who had initially been admitted to the country to work as a stripper. The press dubbed the issue "Strippergate".
On January 14, 2005, Sgro resigned[1] (http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1105686456318_27?hub=topstories) from cabinet after further allegations that she had offered to intervene in the immigration hearing of Harjit Singh, a Brampton man, in exchange for pizza. The following day, the Toronto Star revealed that Singh had previously committed credit card fraud [2] (http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1105799384658_3?hub=topstories).
She was the first minister to resign from Paul Martin's government.
On January 31, 2005, Sgro filed a lawsuit against Singh for $750,000 in damages.
On May 10, 2005, Sgro was cleared of all wrong-doing from the Strippergate debacle when it was found that Sgro didn't know that two staffers had put her in a position of conflict of interest. The ethics commissioner also concluded that Sgro had never met the woman or even knew that she had volunteered on her re-election campaign. Also the same day, Singh retracted his allegations.
External link
- Judy Sgro official website (http://www.judysgro.com)
| 27th Ministry - Government of Paul Martin | ||
| Cabinet Posts (1) | ||
| Preceded by: Denis Coderre | Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2003-2005) | Succeeded by: Joe Volpe |