‘I will keep on serving them,’ says MP Kang
He says he’s not stepping down, and investigation ‘is not distracting’ him
Darshan Kang says he will stay on as an MP despite a House of Commons investigation finding he violated Parliament’s harassment policy.
On Friday, an investigator found the Calgary Skyview MP acted improperly in June 2017 by trying to enter the hotel room of a young female staffer who worked in his constituency office.
The probe concluded allegations against Kang were “partially substantiated,” including that Kang had tugged at her jacket, grabbed and caressed her hands, and persistently tried to enter her hotel room in Ottawa despite her refusals, according to documents obtained by Postmedia.
Kang said the investigation “is not distracting ” him from his work as an MP and he is not stepping down.
“All I’m going to say right now is it’s a confidential process, it’s continuing and I respect that process,” Kang told Postmedia on Saturday.
“I have been serving (my constituents) to the best of my ability and I will keep on serving them to the best of my ability.”
Kang was a member of the Alberta legislature before being elected as a Liberal MP in 2015. He resigned from the caucus last August to sit as an Independent when the allegations of harassment were first made public, denying the claims and vowing to clear his name.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Kang is no longer a Liberal MP and would otherwise not comment on the case.
“Whether it is this process or others, the Liberal party has no interactions or responsibility over what his next steps are,” Trudeau said in Barrie, Ont.
Kang isn’t the only MP from Calgary under investigation. Kent Hehr, Liberal MP for Calgary Centre, 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 because the alleged incidents did not occur while Hehr was an MP.
Lori Williams, an associate professor at Mount Royal University, said the damage to Kang ’s credibility has already been done and he will have a tough time sitting as an Independent in what she called a “pretty traditional” Calgary riding.
“Sitting as an Independent, somebody who probably has lost significant credibility and connection in that community, his ability to represent them, I think, has been seriously compromised.”
She said it makes sense that Kang is choosing not to resign because stepping down could appear as “an admission of guilt.”
“There will be those that stand by him but, my guess is, because this goes so deeply against cultural norms, that it’s going to be pretty hard for him to retain support,” she said.
“Some people might still be loyal to him, some people might question, like he has done, the conclusions of the investigation.”
Williams said the allegations against Kang and Hehr will do more damage to the Liberals’ chances of winning more Calgary ridings in the next election, adding the party’s chances of making gains in Calgary are already very low due to voter dissatisfaction.