NDP leader mum about allegations against MP

OTTAWA • Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh kept his cards close to his suit jacket on Wednesday after huddling with his MPs for several hours to discuss troubling allegations from one of their colleagues, who has been accused of harassment.

Saskatchewan MP Erin Weir rocked his party on Tuesday when he alleged that the harassment complaint levelled against him in January was not only unfounded, but a politically motivated attempt to punish him.

Weir alleges the complaint was brought forward by a member of former leader Tom Mulcair’s staff in retaliation for Weir having questioned the Trudeau government’s national carbon-tax plan and its potential impact on Western Canada.

Both Weir’s allegations and the results of a third-party investigation on the former economist’s conduct loomed large as Singh and MPs met in their weekly, closed-door caucus meeting.

But the NDP leader wouldn’t comment after the meeting on Weir’s allegations or reveal the results of the investigation by University of Ottawa law professor Michelle Flaherty into the harassment complaint. “We’ll have more to say about that later,” Singh told The Canadian Press. Weir was in Regina Wednesday and did not attend the caucus meeting.

Weir pleaded his innocence on the day he was suspended, but otherwise stayed silent while the investigation was conducted — at least until his office released a statement late Tuesday.

It said Weir was forced to speak up after the CBC quoted an unidentified complainant who accused Weir of having spoken to her in an angry and belligerent way that made her feel physically intimidated.

Weir has denied being angry or belligerent.