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- Senator’s relationship with teen violated ethics code, says\u00a0watchdog<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n
- NDP calls on Trudeau to intervene in Senate’s dealings with Don Meredith<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Last week the Senate’s ethics watchdog, Lyse Ricard, found the Ontario senator had breached the Red Chamber’s ethics code by engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a young woman that started when she was 16 years old.<\/p>\n
The extensive 33-page report catalogues how Meredith first met the woman at a Black History Month event at an Ottawa-area church in February 2013 and later proceeded to have a relationship of a sexual nature with her until May 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meredith\u00a0denies some of the allegations levelled against him by the woman in question \u2014 who is identified as “Ms. M” in the report \u2014 but concedes he had sexual intercourse with her on at least one occasion.<\/p>\n
He was nominated to the Senate by former prime minister Stephen Harper, but was expelled from the Conservative caucus in June 2015, when initial reports of the relationship emerged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Ambrose](\"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/86ec3_ambrose-bill-20170223.jpg\")
<\/p>\n‘Of course he should resign,’ says interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose. (Adrian Wyld\/Canadian Press)<\/p>\n
\nThe senator said Wednesday he believes he has been the victim of racism. He said when individuals of colour rise, somehow they’re taken down, whether it’s “self-inflicted or orchestrated.”<\/p>\n
Ambrose said her thoughts are with\u00a0“this poor young woman, a girl.\u00a0She was a girl who actually had the courage to come forward and talk about something like this when she’s up\u00a0against someone with so much authority and status and power,” said Ambrose.<\/p>\n
Ambrose\u00a0joins a chorus of voices calling\u00a0on Meredith to step down\u00a0amid questions of whether the Senate has the power to force him to do so. Senate sources have said they believe the upper chamber does have the power to expel a senator and declare the seat vacant, and can do so by a simple majority vote.<\/p>\n
Meredith\u00a0lawyer says no crime committed<\/h2>\n
Selwyn Pieters, Meredith’s lawyer, said Friday that his client has done nothing that warrants his removal from the Senate.<\/p>\n
Meredith waited until Ms. M was 18 to have penetrative sex, the lawyer said, and the age of consent is 16\u00a0and thus no crime was committed.<\/p>\n
Some have suggested Meredith’s behaviour could\u00a0possibly be\u00a0criminal as he was in a position of power\u00a0\u2014 he wrote an internship letter for Ms. M, offered to do business with her parents and co-operate on a non-profit initiative with her sister\u00a0\u2014 in which case the age of consent would rise to 18 under Criminal Code provisions.<\/p>\n
Ricard\u00a0found reason to believe that Ms. M and Meredith had “teaser” sex when she was 17. Meredith has denied that allegation.<\/p>\n
“Senator Meredith drew upon his weight, prestige and notability of his office, as well as his relative position of power as a much older adult, to lure or attract Ms. M, a teenager who, by virtue of her age, was necessarily vulnerable,” Ricard said in her report. “He exploited Ms. M and the power imbalance between them.”<\/p>\n
Racism alleged<\/h2>\n
Pieters\u00a0said the ethics officer looked at his client as a “predator” from the outset of her investigation because he is a black man. “One has to consider the race factor here,” he said\u00a0in an interview with Rosemary Barton on\u00a0CBC’s\u00a0Power Politics.<\/em><\/p>\n
The Toronto-based lawyer said\u00a0Caucasian\u00a0senators have conducted equally questionable behaviour and yet still hold on to their seats in the “Rogue Chamber,” a nickname Pieters said\u00a0was bestowed on the Senate long before Meredith’s sexual relationship was made public.<\/p>\n
- NDP calls on Trudeau to intervene in Senate’s dealings with Don Meredith<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n