OTTAWA—A Liberal staffer has resigned after being discovered as the creator of an anonymous Twitter account that revealed details of Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ divorce proceedings.

Liberal interim leader Bob Rae apologized to Toews in the Commons after Adam Carroll left his job in the party’s research bureau Monday because of the social media leaks.

Conservatives initially blamed the NDP when the anonymous Twitter account targeting Toews sparked an uproar in mid-February. But an investigation by the House of Commons Speaker’s office traced the source to the Liberals.

Rae said Carroll, an experienced Parliament Hill aide who had done work for Liberals MPs over the years, was responsible for the cyber-attack on Toews. The Commons’ clerk alerted Liberal officials who in turn notified Rae on Sunday. In a meeting Monday morning, Carroll offered his resignation and Rae said he accepted. “He was extremely apologetic. He’s a perfectly nice, hard-working individual who showed a real error in judgment,” Rae said.

Rae said Carroll had been angered by Conservative remarks likening political opponents to Hitler and child pornographers.

“We all agreed that was no excuse,” Rae said. “Nastiness begets nastiness. At some point you have to stop.”

The revelation and apology took the air out of the Liberal attack on alleged dirty election campaign tricks by the Conservatives.

“Some days are better than other days,” Rae said, as he arrived at a microphone to speak with reporters.

Earlier, apologizing to Toews in the Commons, Rae said, “I have tried in my political life to make it very clear that matters of personal and private conduct are not to be the subject of political attack or political reference. We did not meet that standard with respect to the establishment of that site by a member of that research bureau.”

“I think it is a heartfelt apology and is worthy of acceptance,” Toews responded.

The NDP then demanded an apology from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird. When it was discovered recently that the Twitter account could be traced to a House of Commons IP address, Baird alleged the posts were a “dirty, sleazy Internet game” launched by the official Opposition party.

On Monday, Baird did “unequivocally and unconditionally” apologize to the NDP. “At times emotions get strained in this House,” Baird told MPs. “I think they get particularly strained when one has a friend and colleague who is under attack, and sometimes one rushes to judgment.”

While accepting Rae’s apology, Toews said Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer should look into the fact that other Liberals may have referred people to the Vikileaks30 account. Toews was probably referring to Liberal MP Justin Trudeau’s tweets when the Vikileaks uproar broke.

On Monday, Trudeau penned a new tweet saying, “Appalled to find out Vikileaks came from us Liberals. Yes, I tweeted about it, but I did not endorse it. Personal attacks are always wrong.”

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Vikileaks30 popped up in response to Bill C-30, the Conservatives’ online surveillance legislation that has prompted an outpouring of concern about potential privacy issues for Internet users.

“Vic wants to know about you. Let’s get to know Vic,” the author of the anonymous Twitter account noted. Vikileaks then put up a string of tweets about Toews, including quotations from his divorce proceedings. The account was closed earlier this month.

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