Woman ‘not entirely comfortable,’ PM says
Trudeau insists he did nothing ‘inappropriate’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has responded to groping allegations, saying he “apologized in the moment” but still doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.
“I’ve been reflecting on the actual interaction, and if I apologized later, then it would be because I sensed that she was not entirely comfortable with the interaction that we had,” Trudeau told reporters Thursday. “Even when the original editorial came out at the time I was fairly confident, I was very confident, that I hadn’t acted in a way that I felt was in any way inappropriate.”
The allegations that he groped and manhandled a young reporter were contained in an 18-year-old editorial in the Creston Valley Advance in British Columbia which argued the son of a former prime minister ought to have known better.
Trudeau, who was a 28-year-old high-school teacher at the time, said he’s aware that the young woman may have perceived the incident differently than he did.
“I’ll be blunt about it — often a man experiences an interaction as being benign or not inappropriate and a woman, particularly in a professional context, can experience it differently, and we have to respect that and reflect on it,” he said.
The scandal, which some have dubbed grope-gate, has been dogging Trudeau, who has presented himself as the feminist prime minister.
He has been quick in the past to condemn men accused of sexual misconduct, and has indicated the importance of believing their victims.
Trudeau said he has been engaged and active on issues around “sexual assault and behaviours” since his early 20s in university.
“There is an awful lot of reflection to be had as we move forward as a society on how people perceive different interactions,” he said. “Like I said, I do not feel that I acted inappropriately in any way, but I respect the fact that someone else might have experienced that differently.”