Winnipeg mayoral candidate Glen Murray is continuing to deny he sexually harassed staff at a clean energy think-tank he helmed several years ago, suggesting politics could be behind the allegations.
In an interview with the Free Press Monday, Murray said he didn’t want to speculate about why allegations stemming from his time at the Pembina Institute in 2017-18 surfaced now.
“Is there politics here? Yeah, I think there could be politics here,” he said. “My life, I know, has been examined under a microscope that I think is unique in this campaign. I hope that the journalists are as rigorous with the other campaigns, and maybe if someone is as rigorous with some of the other campaigns, they might be able to answer that question. I know it’s certainly something that people have suggested. We decided that we can only take responsibility for our own campaign. We are taking the high road.”
RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
Mayoral candidate Glen Murray said he owns up to his mistakes and won’t be “mud-slinging” or digging into other candidates’ pasts.
Murray issued a statement last week responding a CBC News investigation, which revealed former employees had concerns about his leadership and management abilities, and said some behaviour — including making sexual comments, drinking to excess at company events and being late for meetings — raised red flags.
During a news conference last Thursday, Murray denied all allegations of sexual harassment, but didn’t take questions.
When asked about claims he was drinking too much, Murray said that’s inaccurate.
He emphasized no complaints were ever made about him during his time at Pembina Institute despite the organization’s anonymous complaint system.
Murray reiterated his statement that his leadership style — which he described as a “very distinctive one” — was not a good “fit” with the Pembina Institute, and repeated that he was hired to bring change to the organization but not everyone was on board with that mandate.
He said he didn’t resist leaving the position when both sides determined it wasn’t a good fit. The conversation that led to his termination notice was “constructive,” and he left in 2018, Murray said.
“I think they were very fair to me, and I was very fair to them.”
Murray said he owns up to his mistakes and won’t be “mud-slinging” or digging into other candidates’ pasts.
“We have a really ambitious plan that I want to get on, and I don’t know how anyone in a campaign has time to do this kind of stuff.”
He’s focused, he said, on the future of the city.
“I will be the best mayor I’ve ever been, and I will try to impress and respect the people of Winnipeg, and I want them when eight years are over to say, oh my God, those are eight of the best years in the history of Winnipeg. That’s what this campaign is about for me.”
Former Pembina Institute employee Angus Affleck is backing his friend Murray.
In 2015, Murray, then an Ontario member of provincial parliament and cabinet minister, hired Affleck to manage his Toronto Centre constituency office.
Murray brought Affleck with him to Pembina, after he quit as an MPP and accepted the job with the think-tank.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
In an interview with the Free Press Monday, Glen Murray said he didn’t want to speculate about why allegations stemming from his time at the Pembina Institute in 2017-18 surfaced now.
Affleck, 36, spoke to the Free Press by phone from the Ottawa Valley, where he now lives and works, after Murray campaign staff emailed a statement from him defending the mayoral candidate.
Affleck, who was Murray’s director of transition at Pembina, said he got in touch with his former boss after the accusations were published, offering to write a rebuttal to the “ridiculous and vindictive” allegations.
Affleck cited “inexperience” as the reason he went through Murray’s campaign rather than contacting the media directly.
Affleck claims he didn’t witness any incidents of “sexual impropriety” or sexual innuendo, as alleged by some of his former Pembina colleagues.
He said suggestions of excessive drinking or sexual advances toward men by Murray, who was Canada’s first openly gay mayor, are “outrageous.”
According to Affleck, some staff felt threatened by Murray’s ideas and mandate to change the culture within Pembina.
“I don’t know why they would have an axe to grind four years on,” he said.
After eight months working for Murray at Pembina, Affleck left for family reasons and returned to Ontario.
He said he isn’t involved in Murray’s campaign nor is he employed by his former boss.
