Misconduct: minister Kent Hehr again on the fifth wheel

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QMI agency

Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:24

UPDATE
Thursday, 25 January 2018 11:26

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OTTAWA | The federal minister Kent Hehr is once again in the hot water, this time due to allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women while he was a member of provincial parliament in Alberta. The prime minister of Canada has promised to mingle in the folder on Thursday.

A former employee at the parliament in alberta, denounced the minister of Sport and Persons with disabilities on Twitter, in the night from Wednesday to Thursday, in the wake of the controversy that led to the resignation of the leader in conservative ontario Patrick Brown for sexual misconduct.

“My first day of work at the meeting in alberta, I was told to avoid being in the elevator with Kent Hehr. He made the comments. It made you feel insecure,” said Kristin Raworth, whose profile indicates that she is a civil servant.

The politician would have made sexual innuendo to all women with whom he worked, according to Ms. Raworth. “While he was alone with me in the elevator, he already told me : “You’re succulent””, she wrote.

Kristin Raworth pointed out that even if she has not experienced physical aggression, the behavior of the politician, imposed a climate of fear to all the women who worked alongside him.

She has also challenged the prime minister Justin Trudeau on social media, wondering how he can still tolerate the minister in his team. “He is a federal minister in the government of a man who believed in the equality of sexes. […] Get rid of it,” quipped Ms. Raworth.

During his closing press conference at the world economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the prime minister said he would speak to his minister in the day and that he would have more to announce before taking a flight in the evening.

“I have no tolerance for harassment. I always say that it is important to believe and support women who come forward with such allegations,” said Justin Trudeau, who also pronounced Tuesday in Davos a strong plea for the inclusion of women in the workplace.

In the morning, the minister’s office had not responded to the requests of the QMI Agency.

The minister Hehr is not his first escapades. He had had to apologise to the Commons last December for remarks offensive to the survivors of thalidomide. According to witnesses, Mr. Hehr, who is himself disabled, would have said at a meeting in October to thalidomide victims that they were “not so much to complain about, everyone in Canada with a story that makes them cry”.