Senior politicians step aside, prompt MPs to reflect on changing attitudes

OTTAWA — The swift sidelining of two prominent politicians jolted MPs into reflecting Thursday on the societal shift in attitudes about allegations of sexual impropriety, and how to ensure their parties handle the issue in the best possible way.

Patrick Brown resigned as leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives after CTV News reported that two women have come forward with graphic sexual misconduct allegations against him — allegations he denies.

The Brown case prompted a woman who once worked at the Alberta legislature to state publicly that Liberal MP Kent Hehr made sexually suggestive comments about her when he was an MLA a decade ago — an accusation that cost him his job as sport and disabilities minister, pending the outcome of an investigation.

Harassment of any kind is unacceptable, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement.

“As a government we take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously, and we believe that it is important to support women who come forward with allegations and that is exactly what our government will do.”

For his part, Hehr echoed the sentiment, saying the current conversation about harassment is a very important one.

“Throughout my career I have always tried to conduct myself with respect towards others, and I understand the most important thing is how each individual feels.”

Earlier Thursday, Trudeau applauded the courage of those who levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against Brown.

“My thoughts turn immediately to the women who came forward, knowing how difficult it can be, to salute them for their courage and their leadership,” the prime minister said at a news conference wrapping up his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trudeau said he hopes the women who have spoken out about Brown retain support among their friends, families and communities at large.

“I certainly hope their example will resonate.”

Brown was a Conservative backbencher under Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2006 to 2015, when he stepped down to run for leader of the Ontario PC party.

Current federal party leader Andrew Scheer said the allegations against Brown must be investigated fully.

At a caucus meeting in Victoria, Scheer said he never heard any allegation of any kind about Brown, until now.

“I certainly invite anybody who feels that they have been a victim of these types of things in the past to reach out to our office. We’ll certainly do our best to make sure that any program or service that could be made available to them will be,” Scheer said.

“I’m encouraged by the spirit that this is happening now, where you have all-party agreement in the House of Commons to deal with these issues seriously.”

Brown “did the right thing” in stepping down, said Ontario Conservative MP Lisa Raitt.

Fellow Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu said she believed the provincial party should take the lead on the Brown issue, but added the federal party would also likely become involved since Brown was an MP at the time of the alleged incidents.

Conservative MP Tony Clement was more blunt, calling the behaviour utterly unacceptable.

“Our staff had to be treated with dignity and respect. We should always keep our policies and procedures respectful.”

Clement said he expected the federal party to have “more discussions about this.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also said Brown was right to resign based on the serious nature of the allegations.

“With Mr. Hehr, I don’t know. I don’t know the details to that extent. What I do know is you have to believe survivors. That’s the starting point.”

Trudeau has repeatedly said his government has zero-tolerance for sexual misconduct, and he used his keynote address at the World Economic Forum earlier this week to urge companies and politicians to do more to confront the problem.

“Me Too, Time’s Up, the Women’s March — these movements tell us that we need to have a critical discussion on women’s rights, equality, and the power dynamics of gender,” Trudeau said Tuesday.

“Sexual harassment, for example — in business and in government — is a systemic problem and it is unacceptable. As leaders, we need to act to show that truly, time is up.”