Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer pleaded guilty today to careless driving after charges of speeding, drunken driving and possession of cocaine were withdrawn in an Orangeville court.

Jaffer, 38, will pay his $500 fine within the next month. He has already given $500 to the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

“I’m sure you can recognize a break when you see one,” Justice Doug Maund told Jaffer in court after the Crown announced it was dropping the other charges.

Outside the courthouse, Jaffer admitted, “I’m sorry. I know this was a serious matter,” adding that he was relieved by the resolution.

“I know I should have been more careful. Once again, I apologize for that and I take full responsibility for my careless driving.”

Wearing a dark suit, with his hair gelled, a confident Jaffer was flanked by family and his lawyer, Howard Rubel, as he spoke briefly before being whisked away in an SUV.

Jaffer, who is married to federal Tory cabinet minister Helena Guergis, was arrested shortly pulled over just after 12:45 a.m. on Sept. 11 in the village of Palgrave, east of Orangeville.

An Ontario Provincial Police officer had clocked Jaffer going 93 km/h in a 50 km/ zone.

Jaffer told the officer he was returning from Toronto, where he had consumed two beers two hours earlier.

His breathalyzer test measured more than 80 milligrams of alcohol, the court was told.

He was charged with cocaine possession and driving over the legal blood-alcohol limit. His licence was suspended for 90 days.

However, Crown Marie Balogh told the court the prosecution dropped the more serious charges for “legal reasons,” saying that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.

“The charges of driving over the legal limit and possession of any illegal substance has always been refuted and I think the withdrawal of those charges vindicates that refutation today,” Rubel said.

“What Mr. Jaffer did was drive without paying to how fast he was going.”

Jaffer had been spending the summer an hour north in Angus, the hometown of his wife, who is federal minister of state for the status of women.

He lost his Edmonton-Strathcona seat, which he first won at the age of 25 in 1997, in the 2008 federal election. He and Guergis, the MP for Simcoe-Grey, were married in a spur of the moment ceremony the day after his defeat.

A close friend and colleague said after the arrest that the charges were “absolutely devastating” for Jaffer and his family.

“Being a public figure, the damage is already done. This is extremely harsh for him, for his family,” said Patrick Glemaud, CEO of Green Power Generation Corp., an alternative energy company he co-founded with Jaffer.

“I’m supporting him 100 per cent,” said Glemaud, who met with Jaffer in Ottawa yesterday. “The presumption of innocence must stand. I think he’s a great guy.”

Jaffer was born in Kampala, Uganda, and immigrated to Edmonton with his family as a boy to escape persecution under the iron-fist rule of Idi Amin.

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He offered an emotional apology in the House of Commons in 2001 after one of his aides, Matthew Johnston, was caught impersonating him on a radio show while Jaffer was busy elsewhere.

Jaffer was re-elected in 2006 and named Conservative caucus chairman by Harper.

Guergis herself had to apologize earlier this month for “speaking emotionally” to staff at Charlottetown airport. According to witnesses, she arrived at the last minute, berated Air Canada officials for their slowness, screamed obscenities at security staff who asked her to take off her boots.