Politicians adapting to changing world: PM
• Justin Trudeau concedes that he, like all political leaders, is struggling to figure out how best to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct against members of his own caucus.
“I don’t have a rule book that’s been handed down to me from Wilfrid Laurier as leader of the Liberal party on how to handle these situations,” the prime minister said Tuesday.
“This is new for organizations to have to deal with in this way, and we are doing the best that we can on a case-by-case basis — starting from a place of respect, of support (for victims), of belief and understanding that we do have to have fair process as we move forward.”
Trudeau offered that answer in response to a question about why Kent Hehr — who resigned from cabinet last week pending an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct towards women — remains a member of the government caucus while Darshan Kang, another Calgary MP facing misconduct allegations, has been booted from the Liberal fold.
That question has gained urgency as additional complaints against Hehr have surfaced, including an allegation that he groped a young female staffer.
Liberal insiders say Kang, a former member of the Alberta legislature, voluntarily quit caucus last year while he’s being investigated for alleged sexual harassment involving former female staffers in both his provincial and federal constituency offices.
Trudeau didn’t mention that, but did say “every case will be different.”
Until very recently, Trudeau pointed out that processes and support systems to deal with complaints of sexual harassment or sexual assault involving federal politicians and employees didn’t even exist.
A sexual harassment code of conduct for MPs was developed only after two female New Democrat MPs levelled complaints against Liberal MPs Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews in 2014. Trudeau suspended the two Liberals from caucus pending a third- party investigation, at the conclusion of which the pair voluntarily resigned from caucus permanently.
The new code was reviewed last fall, but the governing Liberals believe the environment has changed so dramatically since then that it should be reviewed again.
Filomena Tassi, the government’s deputy whip, tabled a motion Tuesday at the procedure and House affairs committee, asking for creation of a sub-committee to conduct a “thorough” reassessment of the code. Her motion is to be considered Thursday.