OTTAWA, Sept 17 Canada's well-known politician Rahim Jaffer, who recently married federal minister Helena Guergis, was arrested and charged with drunk driving and cocaine possession.

The Canadian Press news agency reported on Wednesday night that former MP of Canada's ruling Conservative party was arrested by Ontario provincial police in the village of Palgrave, north of Toronto.

It said the police officer who stopped a speeding SUV at about 1245 am could smell alcohol. “Jaffer has been charged with driving while over the legal blood-alcohol limit, and with possession of cocaine.

His licence has been suspended for 90 days,” the news agency said.

Jaffer, 37, was MP from 1997 until a surprise defeat in last year's election. He 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.

He was just 25 when he first arrived in parliament as an MP.

Jaffer 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.