Details emerge on Baillie

N.S. Tory leader resigns amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour

Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie was forced to resign Wednesday after an investigation found he acted inappropriately and breached the legislature’s policy on workplace harassment.

Party president Tara Miller said the Tories launched an independent, third-party probe into Baillie’s behaviour after a sexual harassment claim was brought to the party’s attention late last month.

“As soon as we became aware of those allegations we took immediate steps to address them,” she told reporters at Province House in Halifax.

“The PC party of Nova Scotia does not and will not tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace.”

Miller said she is only aware of one individual who has come forward with allegations, but she would not say whether the allegations result from one incident or multiple incidents over time.

“In order to respect the confidentiality and privacy of the individual involved, we’re not going to be sharing any more details than what we’ve already disclosed,” she said.

Miller said the decision to ask Baillie to step down was supported unanimously by the party caucus.

Although caucus members were provided with the “appropriate information” to make a decision, Miller said the investigator’s report has only been disclosed to legal counsel.

“We’re very confident that the individual we retained to do this report did a very thorough and careful analysis of the issue,” she said.

“The report concluded there had been a breach of the harassment policy.”

Miller said the scope of the party’s involvement in the harassment allegation has concluded.