Liberal MP Darshan Kang is pictured in this 2015 file photo. Mr. Kang is facing allegations of harassment from a staff member.Chris Bolin/The Globe and Mail
Liberal MP Darshan Kang is facing allegations of harassment from a staff member.
The Hill Times reported that a young female employee in Mr. Kang's Calgary constituency office said the rookie MP sexually harassed her. When asked on Monday if Mr. Kang would be expelled from caucus, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not directly answer the question.
"I can assure people that our whip's office and the human resources of the Parliament of Canada are engaged as they must be in this process," Mr. Trudeau told reporters at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, where he was unveiling a cabinet shuffle.
Mr. Trudeau has followed a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to sexual misconduct and harassment of women. While in opposition before becoming Prime Minister, he expelled then-Liberal MPs Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti from the Liberal caucus in 2015 following harassment complaints made by two female NDP MPs. Nunavut MP and then-cabinet minister Hunter Tootoo resigned from the Liberal caucus last year after accusations that he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a junior female staff member.
The Hill Times, citing Liberal sources, reported that Mr. Kang's staffer approached Liberal whip Pablo Rodriguez with her sexual harassment complaint in June. The Ottawa-based publication said an external investigator was hired to look into the allegations and recently submitted a report on the matter. It reported that Mr. Kang will be removed from caucus in the "coming days" as a result of the investigation.
The Prime Minister's Office directed all questions about Mr. Kang to Mr. Rodriguez's office on Monday.
"We were made aware of the allegations and referred them, as per the House of Commons process, to the chief human resources officer," said Charles-Eric Lépine, chief of staff to Mr. Rodriguez.
Heather Bradley, director of communications for the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons, said chief human resources officer Pierre Parent cannot comment on human resources files, citing confidentiality rules in the House's harassment policy.
"He will not confirm or deny if an investigation is under way," Ms. Bradley said in an e-mail.
The House of Commons adopted a harassment policy for matters between MPs and their staff in 2014; unionized and administrative staff are covered under another framework. The policy outlines resolution options for harassment complaints and assigns responsibility for discipline to the party whips, who are allowed to hand over management of the complaint to the chief human resources officer if they wish.
The harassment policy requires the House to publicly disclose how often it is used. According to the most recent harassment report, the House of Commons processed 19 cases involving harassment, discrimination or abuse of authority during the 2016-17 fiscal year.
Calls and e-mails to Mr. Kang's Parliament Hill and constituency offices went unanswered on Monday. Mr. Kang was elected federally in 2015; before that, he served as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.