{"id":73950,"date":"2017-03-11T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T00:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/senators-urge-don-meredith-to-resign-after-disgusting-relationship-with-teenage-girl.html"},"modified":"2017-03-11T00:01:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T00:01:27","slug":"senators-urge-don-meredith-to-resign-after-disgusting-relationship-with-teenage-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/senators-urge-don-meredith-to-resign-after-disgusting-relationship-with-teenage-girl.html","title":{"rendered":"Senators urge Don Meredith to resign after ‘disgusting’ relationship with teenage girl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaders from all sides of the Red Chamber were unequivocal in their denunciation of Senator Don Meredith today while calling on him to resign\u00a0after the release of a damning report<\/a> that detailed his two-year sexual relationship with a teenager.<\/p>\n

“I would be very disappointed if he walks through the doors of the Senate again,” Newfoundland Conservative Senator David Wells told reporters. “We’re all disgusted, I don’t think the Senate is any place for a person of that character. The things he has done are disgusting and are wrong by any measure.”<\/p>\n

Meredith, who was appointed as a Conservative senator by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2010 before becoming a member of the Independent Senators Group (ISG), denies many of the allegations\u00a0levelled\u00a0against him by the woman in question \u2014 who is identified by\u00a0Lyse\u00a0Ricard, the ethics officer, as “Ms. M” in the report \u2014 but concedes he had sexual intercourse with her on at least one occasion.<\/p>\n

Ricard found reason to believe Meredith and Ms. M had intercourse three times, including once when the woman was 17 years old.<\/p>\n

Meredith, 52, denies the allegation.<\/p>\n

‘Very disturbing’<\/h2>\n

Peter Harder, the government’s representative in the Senate, said he has written to Meredith to ask him to immediately resign. “I read the report last night, after it was tabled, and I find\u00a0the report very disturbing. It would be\u00a0appropriate if the senator vacated his seat.”<\/p>\n

“The whole Senate will determine what sanctions, if any, will be imposed,” he said, if Meredith does not voluntarily resign. Harder said it was not immediately clear if the chamber had the ability to expel Meredith outright, but, according to his reading of the rules, it is\u00a0a\u00a0possibility.<\/p>\n

Ricard found that Meredith violated two sections of the code of ethics, namely that the Toronto-area senator and\u00a0Pentecostal pastor did not uphold the highest standards of dignity inherent to his position, and that his actions reflect adversely on the institution of the Senate.<\/p>\n

Ricard’s\u00a0report will\u00a0be referred to the Senate’s ethics committee for review, which may recommend that the Senate as a whole take\u00a0action \u2014\u00a0including a suspension.<\/p>\n