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Actor Corey Haim shown on March 19, 2009, in Hollywood, died on Wednesday. His cause of death hasn’t been confirmed. (Michael Buckner/Getty Images)

Actor Corey Haim had a fraudulent prescription when he died that was linked to a major drug ring, authorities say.

The California Attorney General’s Office said Friday it was investigating the drug ring and how the Toronto-born actor obtained the prescription.

Haim, a 1980s heartthrob who starred in The Lost Boys and License to Drive, died Wednesday at age 38.

An autopsy was performed on Thursday, but the coroner’s office has not declared a cause of death. Toxicology tests could take another six to eight weeks.

But, Haim’s mother, who was with him in Burbank, Calif., at the time of his death, said the coroner’s office told her Haim had an enlarged heart and water in his lungs. She said she was told the cause of death may be pulmonary congestion.

Haim had complained of flu-like symptoms in the days before his death. He had battled drug addiction for years.

Winter declined to say what prescription drugs had been found in Haim’s apartment.

Manager says burial in Toronto: magazine

Born in Toronto in 1971, Haim was enrolled in acting classes by his mother as a way for him to get over his shyness.

His first professional job was in the 1984 movie Firstborn. He also had a continuing role in the CBC-TV series The Edison Twins, which ran from 1982 to 1986.

He shot to stardom with the 1986 film Lucas, but his career hit the skids in the 1990s.

More recently, he starred in the reality series The Two Coreys with Corey Feldman from 2007 to 2008, and had completed several film projects.

His manager, Marc Haislip, told Us magazine that Haim will be buried in Toronto. There is no word on the date.

With files from The Canadian Press

Former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer, left, and his wife, Conservative cabinet minister Helena Guergis, are getting small sympathy from political colleagues for their recent troubles. (CP)

Beleaguered Conservative cabinet minister Helena Guergis — who threw a “hissy fit” at Charlottetown airport recently — is getting small sympathy from her political colleagues.

Guergis, minister of state for the status of women, was a no-show Friday at a panel on women in politics at the Manning Centre’s annual conference for “small-c” conservatives.

Her office did not respond to a question about her absence.

Two weeks ago, Guergis apologized for an mad outburst against airport and Air Canada staff in Charlottetown. She allegedly seethed at being place through airline procedures as she arrived minutes before a scheduled flight, calling the city a “hellhole” and uttering a profanity.

Former Conservative party matriarch Deborah Grey did attend the panel discussion, as did moderator and junior minister Diane Ablonczy, MP Lois Brown and Andrea Mrozek of the Institute for Marriage and Family Canada.

When a member of the audience questioned about women in politics being treated differently, Grey responded: “Women are judged differently. We can like it, we can harangue about it, we can despise it, we can do all kinds of things, but that’s the way it is. That’s life,” Grey, one of the best-known Conservative women, later told The Canadian Press.

“We can’t give ourselves permission to lose control and have a hissy fit at an airport or wherever, in the House of Commons, because it will come back to bite us.”

Mrozek also waded in: “Is it because someone’s a woman or that they’re just being an idiot in the public square?” she said.

Ablonczy also indirectly commented on Guergis, saying Conservative women are treated differently in the media than Liberal women. She pointed to a column in the Globe and Mail newspaper last week in which the writer suggested Guergis should resign but not a Toronto city councillor who angrily shot back at a heckler.

Conservatives have been curiously candid in their reaction to the Guergis incident.

The former communications director to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Kory Teneycke, called Guergis’s “diva behaviour” unacceptable.

“You’ve got to come clean and you’ve got to show contrition and in doing that it allows everyone to go on,” Teneycke told The Canadian Press. “Half addressing it or skirting it doesn’t allow people to turn the page.”

Guergis is also dealing with the fallout from husband Rahim Jaffer’s careless-driving charge. Jaffer, a former Conservative MP, saw charges of impaired driving and drug possession dropped — a “break” in the words of the judge who heard his case.

“When you’re in the press, and you’re on the front page of the newspaper for something other than excellent sound public policy, it’s never excellent,” Grey said. “The two of them are just in a dill pickle.”

A courtroom sketch shows Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin, who have been convicted in the methadone overdose death of their toddler, Summer. (CBC)

The Calgary parents of a toddler who overdosed on methadone were convicted Friday of failing to provide the necessities of life in the death of their 16-month-ancient daughter.

Jonathan Hope and Lisa Guerin were acquitted of two other, more serious, charges of manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death.

Summer Hope died in April 2006 after ingesting a lethal dose of the synthetic opiate that Jonathan Hope had been taking as part of treatment for a drug addiction.

Hope testified he didn’t notice anything incorrect with his daughter until the morning after she ingested the methadone when he found she wasn’t breathing, but even then, it was several hours before paramedics were alerted.

A former friend of Guerin, Amanda MacDonald, testified that Guerin had noticed traces of methadone on the toddler’s shirt a day earlier, but Guerin denied this.

In handing down the conviction, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Judge Earl Wilson said that regardless of whether or not the couple knew for certain that their child had ingested methadone, a responsible parent would have sought medical assurances that she was OK.

“Common sense exercised by the prudent parent is to take no chance when there’s even a possibility that a child’s been poisoned,” said Wilson. “No real willingness was shown by either parent to do that.”

Failure to provide the necessities of life carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

Star witness not believable

During the nine-day trial, the Crown failed to prove the other two charges beyond a reasonable doubt, said Wilson. Testimony from MacDonald, the prosecution’s star witness, was not entirely believable, said the judge.

Defence lawyers argued MacDonald was not a credible witness because she admitted to using cocaine daily for many years.

MacDonald testified she saw the toddler come out of a bedroom with a stain on her shirt.

‘We certainly will be asking for significant jail time.’—Ken McCaffrey, Crown prosecutor

When Guerin noticed it, she exclaimed, “Oh, my God, Jonathan, Summer just drank your methadone!” according to MacDonald.

When the friend questioned Guerin why methadone was even in the house, Guerin said she questioned Hope to sneak some home from his treatment clinic in a coffee cup so that she could see what it would do to her, recalled MacDonald.

Seemingly unconcerned about her child, Guerin then left on a road trip with MacDonald.

Guerin, who testified in her own defence, contradicted MacDonald’s testimony and claimed she had no thought her daughter swallowed methadone before she left town for two days.

The defence pointed out that investigators did not find a cup with traces of methadone or the toddler’s shirt with the spilled drug on it.

Father attempted CPR for hours

Paramedics found the girl dead the day after she swallowed the methadone.

Hope told paramedics he attempted CPR on the baby for five hours, as well as fashioning a makeshift defibrillator out of wires from a lamp. He said he didn’t call 911 because his phone wasn’t working.

‘I reckon a [16-month-ancient] girl doesn’t have the chance to grow up directly because of the negligence of her parents.’—Terrance Lynn, godfather

Summer died of methadone toxicity, but a drug called naloxone could have reversed the effect of the toddler’s overdose if administered in time, a forensic pathologist testified.

“I would be lying if I said I was completely pleased with [the choice]… We will review it,” said Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey on Friday. “We certainly will be asking for significant jail time.”

Summer’s godfather, Terrance Lynn, said he was also disappointed with the choice, calling it “ludicrous.”

“I reckon a [16-month-ancient] girl doesn’t have the chance to grow up directly because of the negligence of her parents,” Lynn said, speaking to reporters.

Sentencing arguments are scheduled for March 19.

The trial saw some bizarre adjournments, including two on the first day, when Hope showed up drunk to court in the morning and again later when Hope’s friend, who was in the gallery, suffered a seizure.

With files from Bryan Labby