Rahim Jaffer is sorry. But he's not sorry enough to resign.

The Canadian Alliance MP stood in a hushed House of Commons on Tuesday to apologize formally for his part in a radio hoax. Jaffer tried to cover up the fact that an aide pretended to be him during a live, 45-minute interview with a Vancouver-based radio station.

Already, the party has stripped Jaffer of his shadow cabinet post and banished him to the back row in the Commons for his part in the deception. From his new seat the two-term MP apologized for a lapse in judgment.

Rahim Jaffer

"I told the producer it was actually me on the radio. I lied. It was wrong for my assistant to appear on the radio claiming to be me. And it was wrong for me to try to cover that up."

Jaffer apologized to MPs and to his constituents for betraying their trust.

"I hope that you will continue to look at me and judge me by the sum of my words and deeds, and not by this one error."

And then Jaffer broke down, tearfully describing how he'd hurt his parents who fled Idi Amin's brutal regime in Uganda when he was just a baby.

Commons Speaker Peter Milliken commended Jaffer for his courage. "I'm sure," he said, "his electors and his parents will be very proud of him."

The Alliance says that ends the matter.

Liberal Derek Lee says not until Jaffer's aide apologizes, too. "It seems to me that the staffer involved should provide a written apology to the House," said Lee.

That prompted a sharp rebuke, not from the Alliance, but from Conservative leader Joe Clark who told the chamber it "is time to put closure to this."

But people in Edmonton may not be so quick to drop the matter. An Edmonton newspaper says Jaffer should resign, forcing a byelection and letting voters decide whether he, once again, deserves their trust.