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But she has acknowledged that she didn’t say no, and did provide him with a condom.

Mendes said people should keep in mind that Pacetti may have honestly believed that the encounter was voluntary.

“When you provide a condom, what do you expect him to do?” she said. “How do you expect the man to interpret it? You went willingly up to the room with him. You were not forced. You end up sitting on the bed and providing him with a condom. What is the message?”

Mendes has no inside information, but says that when she read about the condom, it gives her “the idea that there was some consent.”

Mendes said she always knew Pacetti to be a gentleman, although he is also flirtatious at times.

“I’ve always seen him to be a bon vivant, a very nice guy,” she said. “I’ve never had any trouble with him at all.”

She said she can’t imagine Pacetti assaulting someone.

“I don’t know what was going through the woman’s mind, or emotions, but there is my difficulty in believing Massimo would use force,” she said. “That I would have a lot of trouble believing.”

Mendes got to know Pacetti well when she was president of Quebec wing of the Liberal party and he was Quebec caucus chair. They often attended parties together.

Mendes is the nominated Liberal candidate in Brossard-La Prairie. She was defeated by New Democrat Hoang Mai in 2011 and will face him again in 2015.

She wants to speak up for Pacetti but is afraid she will be accused of victim blaming.

“I’m not blaming anybody,” she said. “From what we know, she didn’t even want this to be brought out. It’s a huge mess, a very very emotional thing. I can just imagine what she’s going through right now.”