MPs return to Ottawa today
TRUDEAU TALKS TRADE, WOMEN AT LIBERAL CAUCUS
Thwarting inappropriate behaviour amongst those who wield power and building on international trade agreements are both essential elements to creating a better country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday as he rallied his party’s caucus a day before Parliament was set to resume sitting after its six-week winter break.
Trudeau told Liberal MPs that change is needed to encourage more women to enter politics.
“Add women, change politics is how we will make a better country,” Trudeau told the gathering as he referenced a social media campaign the prime minister said was more than just a hashtag.
“Sexual harassment is a systemic problem. It is unacceptable.”
His comments came as the recent movement against sexual misconduct, which saw the resignations since Wednesday of the Progressive Conservative leaders in Ontario and Nova Scotia, was felt within the federal Liberal caucus room.
Absent from the meeting was Trudeau’s former sport and persons with disabilities minister, Kent Hehr, who resigned last week after being accused of sexual misconduct while he was a member of the Alberta legislature.
Liberal party whip Pablo Rodriguez confirmed Sunday that he had received another complaint about Hehr and passed it to the person in charge of the inquiry into the former minister’s behaviour.
Meantime, Science Minister Kirsty Duncan was to formally take on Hehr’s portfolio today at a Rideau Hall ceremony and retain it at least until the investigation is complete.
While Hehr remains a member of the Liberal caucus, the Prime Minister’s Office said he decided not to attend the meeting.
Had he been there, however, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould said she wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable because of his presence.
“Sexual harassment on the Hill is a very serious issue, and we need to take it seriously,” she said.
“But we also need to make sure that we’re allowing due diligence.”
Other Liberals, however, struggled over questions of why Hehr was allowed to remain in caucus while a fellow Alberta MP, Darshan Kang, resigned from the caucus last summer after being accused of sexually harassing two female employees in his office. Kang has denied the allegations and a PMO staffer said he resigned voluntarily.
Members of Parliament were expected to debate legislation today designed to strengthen sexual harassment protections for federal employees, including those working on Parliament Hill.
Labour Minister Patty Hajdu, who acknowledged there is a “whisper network” operating around the Hill, said part of the goal of Bill C-65 is to prevent misconduct. But she suggested it won’t be easy.
“We’re in an environment where we have high degrees of power, with parliamentarians, and often staffers who have very little power and are in often precarious work,” she said outside caucus. “So it sets up an environment that is ripe for this kind of behaviour.”
As Sunday’s caucus meeting began, Trudeau also boasted about last week’s signing of a new, comprehensive international trade agreement — known as the CP-TPP — that he said included significant gains for Canada over the former Trans-Pacific Partnership approved by the previous Conservative government.
The prime minister said his government hopes to make similar gains during negotiations on a new North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Mexico.