Sen. Colin Kenny has left the Liberal caucus as the Senate carries out an internal investigation into a complaint of sexual harassment.
The complaint was filed by one of Kenny’s former staff members.
Kenny is not under criminal investigation.
His former assistant, 25-year-old Pascale Brisson, alleges Kenny commonly made improper advances towards her.
In one incident, Brisson alleges: “He called me to tell me he was thinking about me in my bathing suit by the pool. That’s when he was in Washington on a business trip.”
After three months of working in Kenny’s office, Brisson quit her job in September.
She first outlined her allegations against Kenny to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s office back in August.
When she didn’t receive a response, she followed up and finally got a reply in October from Cyrus Reporter, Trudeau’s chief of staff.
Reporter apologized for the delay and claimed he was “unaware of your prior correspondence,” then met with Brisson to discuss the allegations.
"There is a Senate process that is under way looking into the allegations that prohibits me or anyone else involved from commenting," Kenney said in an email to The Canadian Press.
"All I can say is at the end of the day I expect to be vindicated."
With a report by CTV’s Omar Sachedina in Ottawa
