Quebec MNA plans return to legislature
No charges to be laid in sex allegations
MONTREAL • A member of the Quebec national assembly who was booted out of the Liberal caucus for alleged sexual assault is promising to be more careful in the future with regard to his “passionate” and “spontaneous” behaviour.
A woman alleged last fall that Gerry Sklavounos, 42, assaulted her twice in 2014 when she was 19 and working as a hostess at a Quebec City restaurant.
That prompted Premier Philippe Couillard to kick him out of caucus.
The file was referred to the Crown prosecutor’s office, which announced recently that Sklavounos would not be charged.
Other allegations of sexual improprieties involving Sklavounos against employees at the national assembly also surfaced last fall.
On Thursday, Sklavounos held a news conference with his wife, Janneke, in his Montreal riding of Laurier-Dorion as he announced his intention to return to the national assembly next week.
While refusing to address the nature of his relationship with the sexual-assault complainant, Sklavounos said he has had time to reflect on his conduct with employees at the national assembly.
“If, in my attempts at socializing or at being friendly or at lightening the atmosphere in a sometimes awkward way, I offended people or made them uncomfortable, I want to say it now strikes me as unacceptable and inappropriate and I promise to be a lot more careful in the future,” he said.
“I am spontaneous. When I say I am passionate, it also means I am spontaneous. I can’t say I remember one incident in particular but I know how I am. I am a passionate and voluble person who tries to be nice, tries to be friendly, who tries to crack jokes. So, it’s under those circumstances that someone may have heard something and said, ‘You don’t say that at work.’ ”
Couillard said recently he wouldn’t consider readmitting Sklavounos to the fold until he felt convinced the longtime politician would show good conduct toward women. On Thursday, the premier said no decision has been made yet about his return. “Mr. Sklavounos can sit as an Independent in the near future,” Couillard told reporters in Bromont, Que. “His return to the Liberal caucus is neither automatic nor immediate.”
I AM A PASSIONATE AND VOLUBLE PERSON WHO TRIES TO BE NICE.