Ottawa, ON – John Nater, Conservative Shadow Minister for Canadian Heritage, Karen Vecchio, Conservative Shadow Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, and Richard Martel, Conservative Shadow Minister for Sport, issued the following statement regarding the Liberals’ inability to place victims in front of politics: 

“Conservatives believe the allegations of sexual assault and the involvement of Hockey Canada should be the top priority of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC). For the last two meetings, we proposed to begin hearings with representatives of Hockey Canada. We are disappointed Liberal Members of the Committee chose to minimize the issue and prioritize other matters instead.

“While the allegations regarding the incident that occurred in 2018 is a matter for the justice system, the allegations of potential complicity by Hockey Canada in hiding this incident and enabling such illegal acts should be of urgent concern for Parliament and the Department of Canadian Heritage. We believe the Heritage Committee should use every power at its disposal to compel testimony and documents should any individual who has pertinent information decline to appear. Those who have been involved in covering-up the incident since 2018 must be held accountable.

“Sports should provide a safe and welcoming place for all Canadians. Our national governing bodies for hockey and all other sports must not allow for a culture that enables assault or harassment of any kind.

“Conservatives will continue holding Justin Trudeau’s Liberals accountable to ensure that Canada always defends victims and places their interests in front of criminals and political agendas.”