Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said her party was informed three weeks ago about allegations of sexual assault against a former Liberal cabinet minister but that she was not notified.
“I understand that my office has received information that involved troubling allegations related to an MPP who held a cabinet office portfolio at one point, left the legislature many years ago, and was never a member of my or premier McGuinty’s cabinet,” Wynne told reporters following remarks at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto on Friday.
Wynne’s comments come a day after the accuser’s lawyer, former Liberal MP John Nunziata, tweeted that the premier knew about the alleged abuse three weeks ago – a claim she denies.
“There was a process in place. I was not informed three weeks ago,” Wynne said.
“The process which engaged the person who made the allegation, who made the complaint, was engaged and the staff and legal counsel has been involved.”
Nunziata told Global News on Thursday that his client, a woman, worked as an executive assistant to the accused.
He said the woman wrote a letter to Wynne, who she knew from her time as a school trustee, in which she said she had reported the minister’s “repulsive and adulterous groping, propositioning and innuendo and chronic inebriation” to a human resources official in the legislative assembly.
In the letter, the woman said she was reassigned to a different office soon after and was told that no action would be taken against the minister because “we don’t want to embarrass the premier.” She was eventually let go from the Ontario Liberal Party.
The woman added that she was left with the impression that she wasn’t the first to raise concerns about the minister.
“We don’t know what Mr. Nunziata is referring to in his tweet,” a spokesperson for the Premier’s Office told Global News Thursday.
“However, we can confirm that since becoming premier in 2013, Premier Wynne has not been informed of any complaints of this nature against any member of her cabinet.”
Wynne said on Friday personal privacy is at the core of any process involving allegations of sexual assault or complaints of misconduct against any members of her party.
“First what happens is there is a review of the information, we engage outside counsel, and, if appropriate, we retain the services of a third-party investigator with expertise in these matters,” Wynne said.
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“I did not know about this particular instance but because there is a process in place, at a relevant point I would have been informed of it.”
Nunziata did not disclose the name of the accused. However, his client did express her concerns about the complaints process and that it was not working.
“I don’t know that is to be the case. I know that we are engaged. I know that legal counsel was engaged with her and her legal counsel,” Wynne said. “So clearly I need to understand that that process is being followed and if there is a challenge with it then we need to look at that.”
–With a file from Rahul Kalvapalle and Kamil Karamali
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