World

Conservative MP Says Trudeau Sounds A Lot Like Harvey Weinstein

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
Font Size:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence that he can’t remember ever groping a female reporter isn’t washing with Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Michelle Rempel.

The Calgary MP and Conservative immigration critic says Trudeau not remembering “any negative interactions” on the day in question sounds a lot like former high-priced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein who said he couldn’t remember any allegations of sexual assault or harassment.

(RELATED: Trudeau On Groping Allegation: ‘Doesn’t Think’ He Had ‘Any Negative Interactions’)

“Well, I’m sure Harvey Weinstein said that he couldn’t recall things either,” Rempel told the HuffPost Canada on Wednesday. Weinstein eventually turned himself into police and will be tried on a various c0unts of sexual misconduct.

The groping accusation will not disappear anytime soon for Trudeau. At first, he ignored the questions, then had his office respond to individual media queries, issued a statement and then, last weekend, finally addressed the issue in person while talking to reporters in Regina.

Trudeau was years away from politics when he visited Creston, B.C., in 2000 to check out a music festival. A female reporter with the local community newspaper told her editor that she had a very negative interaction with Trudeau — and the editor believed her.

On Sunday, Trudeau stuck to his script in discussing the allegation. “I had a good day that day. I don’t remember any negative interactions that day at all.”

But Rempel is crying hypocrisy after Trudeau has been so quick to dismiss his own MPs from the Liberal caucus for unproven allegations of sexual harassment. Trudeau proudly refers to himself as a feminist but Rempel told the HuffPost that his is merely “a cloak of feminism.”

She said it’s just more “virtue-signalling” and two-faced politics.

“So, it’s do as I say, but not as I do,” she told the Post, adding that the silence from the Liberal Party caucus is deafening, as all have “refused to comment on what’s right in front of them.”

Follow David on Twitter