Unpacking the politics: harassment on the Hill

WATCH: The Ottawa Citizen’s Mark Kennedy and Jennifer Ditchburn of The Canadian Press discuss allegations of harassment on Parliament Hill and Dean Del Mastro’s departure from politics

The case of two Liberal MPs being suspended pending an investigation into allegations of misconduct took over discussion on Parliament Hill last week; quickly turning from a discussion about the culture on the Hill to a political spat over how the situation should have been handled.

In a discussion on The West Block with Tom Clark Jennifer Ditchburn said she was disappointed by the politics that took over the conversation.

“It overshadowed what I was hoping was going to be a positive discussion on Parliament Hill, which is a very male dominated place, about women, about how women are treated, about the kinds of challenges that women face,” she said.

Justin Trudeau argued that he had “a duty to act” when an MP directly complained to him about the behaviour of one his caucus members.

The Liberal leader announced last Wednesday he was suspending Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews over allegations of “serious personal misconduct” levelled by two MPs from another party.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the two female New Democrat MPs have been victimized a second time by Trudeau’s decision to publicize their complaints.

He also chided Trudeau for failing to give New Democrats a heads up before going public.

On The West Block Mark Kennedy said he was surprised there is no process in place to deal with these kinds of issues.

“How can we go through decades and generations in an institution where let’s face it, we’ve all known for a long time, it’s a male-dominated place.  The possibility of that kind of activity has always been there so why not have a process in place to deal with it?” he said.

— With files from The Canadian Press