Victims of Senator Don Meredith to share nearly $ 500,000

Taxpayers will have to pay more than half a million dollars for the escapades of former Ontario Senator Don Meredith.

• Read also: Financial compensation for the employees of ex-senator Don Meredith

• Read also: Ex-judge Louise Otis to look into the case of former senator Don Meredith

• Read also: Senate “regrets” for the victims of Don Meredith

A Senate committee on Wednesday ratified the recommendations of former Quebec judge Louise Otis who had looked into the harassment, sometimes of a sexual nature, suffered by former employees of this senator appointed by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2010 .

“Compensation totaling $ 498,000 will be paid to nine staff members, while $ 30,000 will be paid to reimburse the legal fees of some of the participants,” the Senate said, which will foot the bill.

Last year, the Senate Ethics Officer concluded following an investigation that Don Meredith had engaged in behavior that “constitutes both harassment and sexual harassment,” said the upper house of the federal Parliament.

Recall that the Senate had apologized last June to employees of Don Meredith.

The Ontarian was kicked out of the Conservative caucus in 2015 when revelations surfaced that he dated a teenage girl at age 48 when she was just 16. This Pentecostal religious leader resigned from the Senate in 2017 because he was threatened with expulsion.