Report on Commons harassment policy shows 10 cases, no investigations

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OTTAWA – A new report says the administrative arm of the House of Commons has processed 10 cases of alleged harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority since its new policy came into effect more than a year ago.

That includes five cases involving the conduct of MPs, but the report does not divulge their names, their political parties or the nature of the allegations.

The report says seven of the cases were inquiries only, meaning that someone might only have asked for more information about their options; the three remaining complaints were all informal and did not lead to an investigation.

The multi-party Board of Internal Economy brought in a new policy in December 2014 following sexual misconduct allegations levelled against former Liberal MPs Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti by two female New Democrat MPs.

Both Andrews and Pacetti, who denied any misconduct, were suspended from the Liberal caucus and then left permanently ahead of their expected expulsion following the results of an independent investigation.

The policy, which is separate from the one developed to handle complaints between MPs, requires that statistics about how often it is used be publicly disclosed.

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