A staff member in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office has been suspended from his position of deputy director of operations and a third-party investigation has been launched after allegations of inappropriate behaviour were made against him.
TVA, a French-language television network, first reported that Claude-Éric Gagné, the deputy director of operations in the PMO, is being investigated for inappropriate behaviour and has been on forced leave since early November while the investigation takes place.
The PMO is refusing to identify the staffer involved or provide any details of the allegations being made against them but a source confirmed to CBC News that the allegations are against Gagné and involve inappropriate behaviour.
"Any allegation brought forward to this office is taken extremely seriously," Trudeau's director of communications Kate Purchase wrote in an email.
Purchase said in this case an investigation was "immediately triggered with the assistance of an independent investigator and the individual in question went on leave, pending the outcome."
"Given the investigation is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further in order to protect the integrity of the process and ensure fairness for the parties."
In a statement in French to Radio-Canada, Gagné said he is currently on leave because of an independent investigation into "allegations which were brought to the attention of my employer."
The PMO staffer said he takes the situation seriously and has offered "my full and complete collaboration to the investigator," who he said has given him the opportunity to "explain my version of the facts in light of these allegations which I dispute."
Gagné said he hopes the process concludes as soon as possible, but that he won't make any other comments until then "so as not to undermine this process I have consented to."
In the past Trudeau has demonstrated a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. When allegations of sexual harassment were made against Liberal MPs Scott Andrews and Massimo Pacetti Trudeau immediately suspended them from the Liberal caucus.
After getting the results of an independent investigation Trudeau ordered into complaints levelled against them, both MPs were kicked out of the Liberal fold.
