Nanny 911
Ruby Dhalla’s dramatic fall from grace
Image credit: Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
On May 8, 2009, Ruby Dhalla stepped in front of the cameras. Old hat for the fresh-faced Brampton MP who, in her five years in politics, has proven to be the most comely and camera-ready Liberal this side of Trudeaumania. Except this time, the adoration had turned to accusation in a cinematic storyline that could go down as the scandal that sidelined Dr. Dhalla for good. With her lawyer by her side, she struggled to maintain her patented poise as dozens of reporters demanded answers. Had she really committed all of these appalling (or arguably appalling) acts—paying her mother’s caregivers less than $5 an hour; forcing them to shovel snow, scrub floors and polish shoes—as three former Dhalla family employees had alleged? Or was she a victim of the muckraking media, suddenly empowered nannies or even the conspiring Tories? Parliament’s unofficial Miss Ethnic Diversity, Dhalla has built her name on championing the rights of immigrants, a fact that only served to heighten the hysteria and further humiliate the star at the centre of the storm, who, for once, wasn’t quite ready for her close-up.
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