Grewal's Got Guts (Though We're Not Sure About Brains)

Lest we think that The Garish Ms. Parish is the only MP making the national news this week, let's turn our attention to Surrey MP Gurmant "Your Conversation May Be Taped for Quality Control Purposes" Grewal.

This morning in the Globe and Mail, Grewal was quoted from a released statement saying that his taping of the PM's chief of staff was against Stephen Harper's orders:

"When I told Mr. Harper that I had an opportunity to meet with and tape the Prime Minister, Mr. Harper told me to end the taping process," Mr. Grewal said in the statement.

According to the dates of conversations on his own website, Mr. Grewal met with and taped a conversation with Tim Murphy, Mr. Martin's chief of staff, the next day.

In his clarification yesterday, Mr. Grewal said he informed Mr. Harper of what he was doing, but that "no approval was sought or given."

Asked yesterday if Mr. Grewal had broken the rules set down by the leader, a spokesman for Mr. Harper said that would be up to the party's MPs to decide.

"That's a decision that he and the caucus will have to make -- what to do," William Stairs said. "I can't speak for him."

Well, at least Grewal's managed to protect his leader to a certain degree; apparently Harper's not the type to try and mount a Nixonian sting operation on the PM. (Unfortunately, this doesn't excuse him from trying to turn the Grewal tapes into a Liberal scandal, and botching the execution.)

Assuming responsibility for this takes guts, which apparently Grewal feels is a virtue. When interviewed by the Surrey Leader earlier this week (hat tip: Neale News), he felt he could win re-election on account of his guts:

"I am going to run," he told The Leader in an interview Monday. "After the positive resolution of these issues I am sure my constituents will appreciate my guts and courage. They will appreciate my honesty and integrity. And they will reward me for my hard work."

On the integrity scale, I suppose Gurmant rates somewhat higher than The Garish One, who tends to speak with the abandon of an Independent with no responsibilities. Since "guts" is an aspect of character, Grewal should be commended for it.

His brains, on the other hand ...