Globe and Mail – Ottawa rules out banning sexual relationships between MPs, staff

The Liberal government has no legislative plans to ban or monitor sexual relationships between MPs and their staffers, even as both the United States and Australia have made similar moves in response to their own recent flurry of high-profile harassment allegations.

Employment Minister Patty Hajdu is spearheading new legislation to protect federal workers, including Parliament Hill staffers, from harassment.

Employment Lawyer Lior Samfiru, a partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP who specializes in employment law, said in a recent interview that access to a clearly independent adviser would “absolutely be a good thing.”

Employees, he said, need to “have the security of knowing that if an employer becomes aware, they won’t be penalized. Otherwise no one would make the call. It doesn’t matter how much anonymity they are promised.”

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Employment lawyer in the Globe and Mail