The Huffington Post reports that Trudeau evicted two MPs — Massimo Pacetti of Montreal and Scott Andrews of Newfoundland — from the Liberal caucus Wednesday morning.
The two men are accused of sexually harassing two female members of the NDP. The incidents are separate and unrelated and both men deny the allegations. Trudeau did not specify the nature of the complaints.
Trudeau suspended the MPs when one of the NDP MPs came to him with the allegations, according to a letter from party whip Judy Foote.
Trudeau first became aware of the “unrelated allegations of personal misconduct” on Oct. 28, and asked Foote to investigate the incident by reaching out to the MPs affected and come up with a reasonable solution.
Foote met with the accused men last Wednesday, and with the two affected women separately last Thursday. The Liberal party did not release the name of the affected MPs. Trudeau said he has a duty to protect individuals affected by this behaviour and encourage others to come forward.
NDP leader Tom Mulcair also didn’t release the names, and said he was saddened by “these serious allegations.”
Trudeau added that parliament doesn’t have a clear course of action for dealing with complaints between members, though it does have guidelines for allegations of workplace misconduct.
