LITTLE BUFFALO, Alta. — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says the NDP caucus won’t reveal the names of two legislature members accused of inappropriate behaviour.
Notley says both cases have been addressed internally and divulging details and identities would jeopardize the privacy of those who complained.
In both cases, she says the investigations concluded the behaviour could be dealt with through education and a change in behaviour.
Notley was commenting on a statement issued by her office late last week saying that two members of her NDP caucus have been accused of inappropriate behaviour since 2015.
Her office says the complaints related to events that happened outside the MLAs’ workplace.
Criminal conduct was not alleged in either case.
“They needed to be addressed and taken very seriously, and that is why we had an independent investigation in both cases,” Notley said after a land claim announcement in northern Alberta Tuesday.
“In both cases, the complainants wanted to remain confidential.”
Notley was asked why she wouldn’t simply release the names of the legislature members but keep the other details private.
“If you’re going to respect the confidentiality of the complainant, then you can’t start parsing which details come out and don’t come out,” she replied.
The government came forward with the two cases after former NDP backbencher Robyn Luff said last week that caucus members had been warned not to politicize indecent behaviour cases involving Opposition MLAs because the NDP had its own problems in that area.
The Opposition United Conservatives have said they have had one workplace complaint filed against a sitting legislature member and the matter was resolved through internal legislature procedures.
Luff was kicked out of caucus last week after she announced she was boycotting the legislature to protest what she called heavy-handed control of backbenchers by senior officials in Notley’s caucus and government.
Notley has suggested Luff is confusing bullying with the age-old concept of parliamentary discipline that Notley says is necessary to get things done in the house.
— By Dean Bennett in Edmonton