Liberals revamp harassment policies in wake of scandals

The Alberta Liberals have initiated a new complaint review process as part of a set of workplace policies released Friday.

The Safe and Respectful Workplace Policies and Procedures document posted on the Alberta Liberal website details a complaint resolution process that staff can follow by contacting a workplace safety committee.

The committee will determine whether to investigate the complaint and whether an external investigator is required, with findings of the investigation provided to the respondent and complainant.

The policy says that complaints must be made within 30 days of an incident, but that incidents outside that time frame will be taken into account at the discretion of the committee, or as part of another investigation.

Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan said that, in September 2017, the party took action to review workplace harassment policies and initiate “a confidential independent review.”

In the fall of 2017, a woman came forward with allegations of misconduct against Calgary Skyview MP Darshan Kang, stemming from his time as an MLA. She spoke publicly after Kang faced accusations of sexual harassment from a staffer in his federal constituency office.

Kirstin Morrell, who worked in Kang’s provincial constituency office in 2011-12, said she hasn’t been contacted by the Alberta Liberals as part of any investigation of Kang, despite the fact that Khan said last September the party would conduct its own investigation, involving speaking with past and present staff, in addition to party officials.

Another former Alberta Liberal MLA, Kent Hehr, is facing accusations he made sexually inappropriate comments to staff members at the Alberta Legislative Assembly when he was a provincial MLA. Hehr resigned his position in the Liberal cabinet in January pending the results of a third-party investigation.

The policy document released by the Alberta Liberals on Friday also outlines policies including requiring bystanders who witness harassment to report it, and for any person in a supervisory role to take “immediate and appropriate action to report or deal with incidents of harassment of any type.”

“All individuals who have the courage to come forward must be believed and supported,” Khan said in a news release Friday.

“We, as politicians, political parties and as a society, can and must do better.”

ED KAISER Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan said his party would investigate allegations of misconduct against former Calgary MLA Darshan Kang, but the woman who filed the complaint says no one has contacted her.

THE CANADIAN PRESS Former federal cabinet minister Kent Hehr resigned in January after being accused of making sexually inappropriate comments to staff while serving as the MLA for Calgary-Buffalo from 2008 to 2015.