Premier Brian Pallister addressed reporters Wednesday after reports of one of his back-bench Conservative MLAs was being investigated for questionable behaviour.
Kildonan MLA Nic Curry announced last week he would not be seeking re-election as he wants to spend more time with his young family. But it appears Curry is at the centre of controversy, reportedly involving inappropriate comments.
Curry was notably absent from the Manitoba Legislative Building Wednesday.
Pallister wouldn’t talk about the case directly but said he knew about it some time ago.
“In the past, a lot of these issues were swept under the rug, let’s face it right?”
“They were covered up for years and years and we don’t want that culture, nobody wants that culture,” he said.
Global News reached out to Curry for comment, however, the PC Caucus sent a statement saying any comment “would be a violation of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly’s policy to offer public comment to the media on an alleged Human Resources matter.”
This isn’t the first time a Manitoba MLA has been investigated over allegations of inappropriate actions.
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NDP MLA, Stan Struthers was accused of tickling and touching women last year, he apologized for making female staffers feel uncomfortable.
Last October Conservative MLA Cliff Graydon was kicked out the Tory caucus amid allegations he groped a colleague and made inappropriate remarks. The Emerson MLA denies sexually harassing anyone.
In 2016, NDP MLA Mohinder Saran was kicked out of caucus over a harassment complaint. Saran called it a misunderstanding.
Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont says these cases should be investigated independently.
“I don’t want to be making those calls … it actually should be out of my hands so that I’m not in a position of saying I’m going easy on someone because it might be politically tough,” he said.
In March the province said it revisited its respectful workplace policy and launched an awareness campaign on sexual harassment internally.
WATCH: Manitoba Liberal leader calls for rules and penalties for bad behaviour
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