Still in the picture

When David Emerson was first named to Harper's cabinet, at least a few Con supporters theorized that Emerson's appointment would be quickly forgotten.

Today, Bernard Shapiro made it all the more clear that Emerson's floor-crossing won't move away from the public eye anytime soon:

The federal ethics commissioner says he is opening a preliminary inquiry into conflict-of-interest allegations against Prime Minister Stephen Harper concerning his formerly Liberal cabinet minister David Emerson...

Ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro says he will look into what influence Harper wielded to convince Emerson to cross the House of Commons floor.

In a letter to three MPs who complained about the switch, Shapiro said he will issue one report on the conduct of both Harper and Emerson, who is now international trade minister.

"Although the subject of this inquiry is the prime minister, given that the actions of...Harper and Emerson in this incident were intertwined, questions will no doubt be raised during the course of the preliminary inquiry on the conduct of Mr. Emerson as well," Shapiro said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Canadian Press.

Now, it may well be that Shapiro will conclude that none of the actions surrounding the floor-crossing technically violated Parliamentary ethical norms. But even if so, that won't result in anything approaching vindication in the eyes of anybody except the most .

What isn't in doubt is that with Shapiro investigating the issue and anti-floor-crossing legislation heading back before the House, Emerson will stay centre stage for the time being...and Harper won't be able to avoid criticism for his party's hypocrisy anytime soon.

Update: And now Harper's office has declared its intention not to cooperate with the investigation. Which not only says far too much about Harper's regard for ethics, but also ensures that when any report does come out, it'll be as adverse to Harper as possible.