Clement ousted from Tory caucus
OTTAWA • Longtime Conservative MP Tony Clement was forced out of his party caucus Wednesday after more allegations of sexual impropriety came to the attention of the party’s leader.
Late Tuesday, Clement stepped down as the Conservative justice critic and resigned his committee roles after admitting he sent sexually explicit images and a video to someone he thought was a “consenting female.” The person then demanded money to not share the images publicly. Clement called in the RCMP.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Clement confided in him last week, and that at a meeting on Monday Clement assured him this was the first and only time he had done such a thing.
“New information became available today that suggests there are allegations that this is not an isolated incident and therefore I’ve asked Tony to resign from caucus and he has done so,” a sombre-looking Scheer said on Wednesday.
That decision came just four hours after Scheer said Clement would remain in the caucus because, while sending
such images was a “terrible lapse in judgment,” it appeared to be between two consenting adults.
But after the story broke, allegations about Clement’s online behaviour washed over social media, largely from young women. He’s long been known to be a prolific user of social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram.
Several people online Wednesday said that Clement had used Instagram in particular to connect with numerous young women and message them privately. He spent a lot of time clicking to show he liked their photos.
Scheer said an internal party investigation hadn’t started but that, or a Parliamentary one, was not out of the question.
He said the Conservative party has a code of conduct for MPS that he expects them to follow.
“I don’t know that too many people ... have to be told not to share explicit images and videos with people that you haven’t met but obviously this is a terrible decision, extremely poor judgment,” Scheer said.
Clement did not respond to numerous requests for comment. However in an email to The Globe and Mail he denied harassing anyone on social media.
“I would say I like all sorts of pictures on Instagram. I’ve never sent unsolicited harassing messages, ever,” Clement wrote.