A senior official at the Prime Minister’s Office is being investigated for inappropriate behaviour.
Claude-Eric Gagné, the deputy director of operations at the PMO, was placed on leave in November following accusations of inappropriate behaviour from women, Quebec’s TVA News reported.
The nature of the inappropriate behaviour wasn’t known, but the PMO confirmed the investigation in a statement to Global News.
“We were made aware of allegations involving a member of the prime minister’s office. Any allegation brought forward to this office is taken extremely seriously,” Kate Purchase, the prime minister’s director of communications, said in an email.
“In this case, an investigation was immediately triggered with the assistance of an independent investigator and the individual in question went on leave, pending the outcome.
“Given the investigation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further in order to protect the integrity of the process and ensure fairness for the parties.”
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In a message to Global News, Gagné confirmed he is on leave and said he is ready to challenge the “veracity” of the allegations against him.
“There is an independent investigation regarding allegations that have come to the attention of my employer,” said Gagné.
“I am taking this situation seriously and I have offered my full and complete cooperation to the investigator who gave me the opportunity to expose my version of the facts to these allegations which I challenge the veracity.”
Gagné added that he hopes the investigation will move forward expeditiously and declined to offer further comment, “so as not to undermine this process.”
READ MORE: How Canada’s Parliament deals with sexual harassment claims
Gagné is considered one of the most influential Quebecers in the Liberal Party. He has been active in politics for over 20 years, spending much of that time working for the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada as well as the Quebec Liberal Party. After working as a staffer for the government of Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, he joined the Trudeau Liberals in September 2014.
The accusations of inappropriate behaviour have followed a slew of other accusations of sexually inappropriate behaviour against high-profile men.
People facing accusations include ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey and politicians in the U.S. and the U.K.
In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has shown little tolerance for even hints of inappropriate behaviour.
Before the 2015 election, he fired two MPs — Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews — from his caucus after allegations both men made inappropriate sexual advances to two female NDP MPs.
Then, in the current Parliament, Trudeau lost a cabinet minister — Hunter Tootoo — who resigned his job and quit the Liberal caucus after allegations surfaced of inappropriate behaviour involving a female employee.
Tootoo, who represents the riding of Nunavut, subsequently completed an alcohol addiction program and sits in the House of Commons as an independent.
Trudeau also lost a Calgary MP, Darshan Kang, who removed himself from caucus after a female constituency staffer complained of inappropriate behaviour. Kang’s situation remains the subject of investigation.
Last spring, Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio, a Montreal MP, apologized to Conservative MP Dianne Watts — who has since quite the House to seek the leadership of the BC Liberals — after Di Iorio made a sexually suggestive comment to Watts at a House of Commons committee. Watts accepted the apology and the matter was quickly put to rest.
And just last week, the House of Commons learned of a long-running sexual harassment case involving Liberal MP Sherry Romanado and Conservative MP James Bezan.
Romanado told the House Bezan made “inappropriate, humiliating and unwanted comments” at an event last spring.
Bezan said he tried to apologize on at least three occasions. An independent House of Commons investigation determined that Bezan’s comments did not constitute sexual harassment.
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