Time for change on harassment, including on Parliament Hill: minister
OTTAWA — There is nothing new about sexual harassment on Parliament Hill, says Employment Minister Patty Hajdu, but it is time to get serious about supporting its victims and stopping it from happening in the first place.
“We talk a lot about getting women into politics and if we can’t actually protect the women staffers in our own workplaces, we have a long ways to go,” the Liberal minister said Monday after she opened the debate on proposed legislation to support safe federal workplaces.
“This isn’t something that’s a brand new phenomenon,” she told a news conference. “What we’re saying is actually what women have been saying, which is ‘time’s up,’ that it’s time to take action, and that we have the tools to do so.”
The legislation, introduced last fall, is aimed at giving workers and employers a clear course of action to better deal with allegations of bullying, harassment and sexual misconduct.