Ontario PC party president Rick Dykstra steps down

Ontario’s Progressive Conservative party president Rick Dykstra has resigned after a major internal shakeup was revealed.

Dykstra made the announcement on Twitter Sunday evening. His resignation comes less than a week after party leader Patrick Brown stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

“As this process unfolds, I have made the decision to step aside as President and take a step back for someone else to lead us through the hard work,” said Dykstra.

Moving forward and moving on.

Rick pic.twitter.com/4djy1TY9Ee

— Rick Dykstra (@RickDykstra) January 29, 2018

A few hours after Dykstra’s resignation was announced, Maclean’s Magazine published allegations that Dykstra was accused of sexually assaulting a young Conservative staffer after a party in 2014, when he was an MP. Maclean’s says the staffer reported the incident to Ottawa police.

The magazine also reported that the party was aware of the allegations and allowed Dykstra to run anyway. He went on to lose his St. Catharines riding and became the president of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives.

Ontario Interim PC leader Vic Fedeli issued a statement early Monday saying, “We take allegations of sexual assault very seriously, and I was shocked and disgusted to learn about these allegations in Maclean’s late last night. There is no place for this type of alleged behaviour in our party, in politics, or in society as a whole. We must ensure our workplaces are safe and that everyone feels comfortable coming forward to share their stories, and I will soon take further steps as I outlined on Friday to ensure this is the case in our workplace.” He said the party will move forward with a new president.

Dykstra did not reference the allegations in his statement on Twitter, however, Maclean’s said he told them he “will be responding.”

His resignation came on the same dame of a major shakeup that included two key PC staff members returning to jobs they had quit just days earlier.

The Canadian Press says they obtained a memo that said Chief of Staff Alykhan Velshi and communications director Nick Bergamini are now back in their old roles, while several other high-level positions have been eliminated in a “reorganization” following the Brown debacle.