Conservative candidate leaves race after sexual assault allegation

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OTTAWA – A Conservative candidate from Nova Scotia has pulled out of the federal election campaign after a sexual assault allegation was brought against him.

The allegation was posted on Twitter on Sunday evening. He said the incident took place in 2019 when a woman met Troy Myers at a library conference in Nova Scotia.

The post alleged that Myers raised a hand on a woman’s skirt after offering to help her find a job.

When she objected, according to the post, Myers told her it was no way to talk to her “future boss.”

Myers called the claim “unequivocally false.” In a statement on Facebook, he said he left the campaign to focus on tackling the allegation.

His departure came just hours before the deadline to register candidates for the election, which could mean there is no Conservative candidate in the Dartmouth-Cole Harbor constituency.

“Seeing him run for a position of power after seeing how he uses his current power pisses me off,” Twitter user @LoSkabar wrote in the post.

The Conservative Party campaign said it asked Myers to withdraw from the race after learning of the allegation.

The Conservatives allowed a candidate to run in the 2015 federal election after knowing he had been charged with sexual assault the year before and had been the subject of a police investigation.

The way the incident was handled led to an internal review of how the party deals with allegations of sexual misconduct against its candidates and the creation of a code of conduct and harassment policy.

In 2019, the Liberals allowed a candidate for re-election despite an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior during the 2015 campaign.

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