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The last week of the parliamentary session that began in 2011 included two departures that bode ill for the re-election prospects of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

The first was the departure from the Conservative caucus of Senator Don Meredith, which was announced in a one-line email from the PMO at 9:51 p.m. on Wednesday: “Senator Meredith is no longer a member of the caucus.”

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The email followed a report in the Toronto Star about a two-year sexual relationship between a now 18-year-old girl and Meredith, a Pentecostal Toronto pastor.

The story must have given Harper’s people a splitting headache. Here’s another one of his Senate appointees making headlines for the worst of reasons, in the battleground where the next election will be decided: the GTA.

The Meredith story overshadowed Harper’s crucial $2.6-billion Toronto transit funding announcement on Thursday.

On one level, it is not fair to blame Harper for the Meredith scandal. Harper surely didn’t learn of her existence before the Star did. But Harper did appoint Meredith to the Senate, as he appointed Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau.