MP Grewal still hasn’t officially quit from Commons

The Brampton East rep announced his intention to resign on Nov. 22

OTTAWA— A week after he announced he would resign for “personal and medical reasons,” Liberal MP Raj Grewal still hasn’t stepped down as the representative for Brampton East.

His continued membership in the House of Commons in the wake of revelations about his gambling problems, personal debts and police investigations has opposition parties demanding an explanation from the Liberal government.

Mark Holland, the Liberal MP for Ajax who is the chief government whip in the House, said he has not spoken with Grewal since last week, but that he understood the MP’s resignation was going to be “imminent” after he posted his intention to resign on Facebook Nov. 22. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced the next day that Grewal informed them he has a gambling problem that drove him into “significant” debt.

An official from the PMO who spoke to the Star on background Thursday said that, like Holland, the office has not been in touch with Grewal since last week, and that ultimately it is up to the Brampton MP to decide when to leave his seat.

In order to officially resign, Grewal needs to submit resignation paperwork to the Speaker of the House of Commons. Once that happens, the speaker forwards a “warrant” to Elections Canada, which can then declare the seat vacant. Elections Canada spokesperson Natasha Gauthier said the agency had not received that warrant as of Thursday evening.

“We’re going to let him follow through on what he said he was going to do, and that’s our ex- pectation,” Holland said.

“I expect that’s something he will be doing in the very shortterm.”

Grewal has not responded to interview requests from the Star over the past week, including two Thursday asking why he has not resigned. Since announcing his intention to step down, media reports from the Globe and Mail quoted unnamed sources who said that Grewal spent millions of dollars gambling — including at the casino across the Ottawa River from Parliament — and that the MP’s activity prompted Fintrac, the federal agency responsible for tracking potential money laundering, to pass information to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The Canadian Press, citing an unnamed source, reported this week that Ontario Provincial Police learned of Grewal’s debts during a broader investigation into money laundering and possible financing of an ex- tremist group in the Middle East. The report said police overheard talk of the MP’s gambling debt on a wiretap. While the RCMP would not confirm whether it is investigating Grewal, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that the police force is trying to gain answers to “a lot of questions” that continue to surround Grewal.

The OPP did not respond to questions about The Canadian Press report Thursday. New Democrat MP Nathan Cullen called Grewal’s continued membership in the House “particularly worrisome.” He said MPs may want to hold their own investigation into Grewal’s conduct, particularly after he questioned officials about how law enforcement track and investigate money laundering when he was on the House of Commons finance committee. In mid-September, Grewal was shuffled off that committee, though Holland has said the move was not made out of concern over Grewal’s questions about money laundering.

Cullen said the situation brings up many questions, but that Grewal’s status as an MP means it would be “nearly impossible” to force him to testify before a political committee because of parliamentary privilege, a collection of rights and immunities afforded to elected members under Canada’s parliamentary system.

“He used that privilege, actually, to gain access to senior law enforcement officials, to ask those questions that he asked, which are now seeming to be condemning,” he said. “He needs to resign.”

During question period, Conservative MP Mark Strahl demanded to know when the government first learned of reported police investigations into Grewal’s conduct. The Conservatives have already called for Grewal to immediately resign his seat.