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Nigel Wright, shown in December of 2004, is leaving Onex Corp. for the Prime Minister's Office.Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail

The ability to walk and chew gum at the same time or a life inside a monastery, as former PMO head Derek Burney chortled, shouldn't be the guiding criteria in determining one's suitably to serve Canadians. If that's where we'e heading, then nit-wits only need apply for employment in federal politics and public service.

The current attack by the federal opposition parties on Nigel Wright's credentials is the sort of thing that drives people outside of politics and the public service mad; it inhibits them from ever coming in. Instead of posing responsible and legitimate questions about how Nigel Wright has put his private affairs in order to do public duty, the opposition seem more inclined to want to neuter him for having success rather than letting him put his abilities to use in service of Canada.

Yes, inquires should be made to determine if Wright has adhered to all laws, guidelines and directives surrounding his transition from Onex to the Prime Minister's Office. But the dark fantasies of conspiracy that live in the dark recesses of the minds of some opposition MPs should be left there for purposes of their own delusions, not inserted into the public debate as if they were fact.

Wright himself made it a priority to consult the Ethics Commissioner on how best to handle his affairs before taking the chief-of-staff job and working in the PMO. He doesn't even start in Langevin until November. Yet little of that matters to the opposition who are more interested in sullying his reputation than seeing his talents put to work.

Mr. Wright's family and friends have already likely told him he needs his head examined for leaving what he has to work in Ottawa. After witnessing the histrionics of the opposition so far they look like prophets. Sadly, that shouldn't be the way.

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