WINNIPEG — A Manitoba politician who was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint said Thursday he expects to be fully reinstated into the Opposition NDP caucus.
Mohinder Saran was suspended from attending caucus meetings in November following a complaint that he had harassed someone in the workplace.
READ MORE: NDP MLA Mohinder Saran suspended after sexual harassment allegations: Sources
His lawyer, Bill Gange, said the legislature’s human resources branch had concluded its probe and Saran was fully complying with its decision.
“Mr. Saran was advised that a recommendation had been made that he take a course in sensitivity training in workplace behaviour,” Gange wrote in a letter to media outlets.
“Mr. Saran has commenced the course and expects to have complied with the recommendation by early January. At that time, Mr. Saran expects to be readmitted to the NDP caucus.”
Gange said Saran was not admitting to any wrongdoing. Neither Gange nor the NDP, nor legislature speaker Myrna Driedger, have revealed details of the accusation Saran faced.
“It’s a confidential process … and I’m going to respect that,” Gange said in an interview.
“There obviously is a difference of interpretation of what happened and Mr. Saran co-operated to his fullest ability.”
NDP interim leader Flor Marcelino was not immediately available for comment.
One party source told The Canadian Press last week that Saran was accused of making “inappropriate overtures, inappropriate comments” to a subordinate that verged on propositioning and that, because of the power imbalance, “someone’s livelihood was potentially at stake”.
Saran was first elected in 2007 and later played a key role in helping former premier Greg Selinger survive an internal revolt when five senior cabinet ministers called on him to resign.
In early 2015, Saran helped deliver 117 delegates to Selinger’s leadership campaign from his constituency in The Maples in north Winnipeg. At the ensuing leadership convention, Selinger hung on to his job by 33 votes and, weeks later, elevated Saran to cabinet in the housing and community development portfolio.
Gange’s letter said the complaint Saran faced is “to the best of Mr. Saran’s knowledge, the only written complaint that has been made to the human resources department of the legislative assembly against him”.
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