An investigator found that Swan River MLA Rick Wowchuk breached the Manitoba Legislative Assembly’s respectful workplace policy a total of 5 times.
The internal investigation against Wowchuk, who is currently running for re-election, found he breached the policy after showing his former assistant a picture of naked women on his cellphone.
The investigation determined there were 4 other breaches including an incident where during a phone call with his assistant, Wowchuk mentioned he was in the bathtub and almost “Facetimed” the call. Another incident occurred when he commented about his assistant wearing a bikini.
In a June 11 letter from the legislative assembly, executive director Judy Wegner mentioned that even though the investigators proved the bikini comment was made, they weren’t certain of its intended “tone or meaning.”
Another incident was a text where Wowchuk used the term “sex code” to answer a question from his assistant about messages from a malfunctioning phone.
The former assistant has not been named. She worked for Wowchuk for two years.
She told the story of the picture incident, where, in 2016, her and Wowchuk were in his office when he asked her if he wanted to see a picture. By his description of the picture, she thought it would be a wildlife picture, only to realize that it was a picture of naked women.
She immediately told Wowchuk to never show her anything like that ever again.
In a statement made by Wowchuk, he acknowledges that the comments and the photo he showed his assistant “caused offence” and apologized.
“I am sincerely sorry this occurred and any offence it caused,” said Wowchuk. “I deeply regret doing so and I have taken full responsibility for my actions”
He also said he is confident in the government’s actions to strengthen the respectful workplace policies and that he will continue to work hard to represent his constituents in Swan River.
Following the actions of former NDP cabinet minister Stan Struthers, PC Leader Brian Pallister announced a “no wrong door” policy. The policy was intended to make reporting harassment easier, and would include political staff and employees of Crown corporations
In 2018-19, the civil service commission initiated 22 investigations involving sexual harassment, 116 involving harassment/bullying and 302 investigations that involved other forms of misconduct — including attempted fraud, conflict of interest or other inappropriate conduct.
Since Wowchuk’s assistant was a constituency assistant, and not a Manitoba government employee her complaint was not included in those numbers.
This is the second instance of sexual harassment made public in the PC’s first term. The first one included Emerson MLA Cliff Graydon, who had allegations against him, after he had asked staff members to sit on his lap.
Graydon was kicked out of the PC Caucus a few months later.
The investigation into Wowchuk’s actions took over 9 months to be completed.
Wowchuk’s former assistant, who resigned earlier this year, is asking for an apology from the PC Caucus and for Wowchuk to be expelled
