O’toole accuses Liberals of ‘culture of coverup’
Multiple allegations of sex misconduct
Erin O’toole accused the highest echelons of the Liberal Party of “no accountability and a culture of coverup” in relation to a Liberal candidate who’s being allowed to run despite facing numerous sexual misconduct allegations.
The attack by the Conservative party leader is the latest broadside against the Liberal Party over its proclaimed “zero tolerance” policy for harassment, as the party — and leader Justin Trudeau — continues to stand by Raj Saini, the Liberal candidate for Kitchener Centre, who’s facing the allegations.
Former Liberal justice minister Jody Wilson-raybould condemned Trudeau’s support for the candidate in a blistering comment.
“Anyone who has a responsibility to address this and does not is not fit to lead,” Wilson-raybould tweeted. “Anyone who stands by and does nothing is complicit. Anyone who is surprised has not been paying attention.”
Wilson-raybould was pushed out of Trudeau’s Liberal government during the 2019 Snc-lavalin scandal.
The allegations against Saini, according to several sources who spoke to CBC News, include “touching” and “being ‘handsy’” at a party function; following a staffer around asking for her phone number; late night requests for a staffer to come to the office and, in one case, a senior staffer told the CBC she considered suicide, alleging Saini would push her up against the wall during outbursts and had touched her leg.
Sources told CBC that higher-ups in the party were made aware of Saini’s behaviour, but nothing was done.
The Post has been unable to independently verify the allegations CBC reported, though Saini and the party have denied wrongdoing.
The Liberals have faced a handful of sexual misconduct scandals since they first formed government in 2015.
Most recently, Trudeau came under questioning about whether or not he was aware of a sexual misconduct allegation made against Jonathan Vance, then Chief of Defence Staff. A House of Commons committee heard that the Prime Minister’s Office, and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan’s office, were made aware of the allegations in 2018. Trudeau insisted he knew nothing, and that it wasn’t clear it was a “Metoo” type complaint.
Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, said she was aware of a complaint against Vance but didn’t know the details.
In the Saini case, the CBC said complainants told them that the Liberal Party and Telford were aware of allegations. The Liberal Party did not provide comment by press time. The Liberals told the CBC they knew nothing about the allegations and Telford has not commented. For his part, on Tuesday Trudeau appeared to acknowledge that the party was now aware of issues. Without going into details, Trudeau said “Mr. Saini has shared the processes, there have been rigorous processes undertaken that he has shared the details of.” O’toole accused the Liberals of a pattern of behaviour.
“This is a pattern with Mr. Trudeau and his office,” O’toole said. “Everyone knew except Mr. Trudeau, apparently. Now we see this same culture of coverup was taking place with their own paid staff members, it’s very concerning. And I hope to
hear a serious response from the prime minister and his team on how this type of coverup took place.”
On Tuesday, Michelle Rempel Garner, a Calgary Conservative, said Trudeau has a “pattern of covering up or looking the other way on these kinds of allegations.”
Lindsay Mathyssen, a London New Democrat, said “there is a clear pattern with Justin Trudeau.”
“All of his talk about feminism isn’t reflected in his actions,” Mathyssen said in a statement.
Saini, a pharmacist, was first elected in 2015.
That Saini remains as a candidate stands in sharp contrast with Trudeau’s earlier statements that he shows “zero tolerance” for harassment, after Troy Myers, the Conservative candidate for Dartmouth-cole Harbour, dropped out of the race, while denying allegations of harassment.
“Canadians deserve to know the people standing up to represent them, to serve them in the House of Commons are not people who have shown disrespect, misbehaved or are facing serious allegations,” said Trudeau on Monday.
In a statement, Saini said he had “never acted inappropriately towards staff or constituents.” The statement said he was made aware of “one allegation regarding my office,” but the “individual chose not to pursue a formal or informal complaint process.”
Saini said he insisted on a third-party review of his office, done through the House of Commons. Saini, who did not respond to a request for a copy of documents relating to that review, said it was finished in June 2020 and found “nothing arose regarding concerns of harassment in the office.” Saini also said he provided information to the Waterloo Regional Police over concerns about his safety and that of his staff, and that the police “took action to mediate the situation.”
The Post sought confirmation and comment from the Waterloo police, but did not receive a response by press time.