Matthew Usherwood/Canadian Press Conservative MP Tony Clement checks his phone on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 11, 2016.

OTTAWA — When news broke Tuesday evening about Conservative MP Tony Clement's sexting, Claire McWatt wasn't surprised. She told HuffPost Canada her first interaction with Clement was in 2014 when the Parry Sound-Muskoka MP, who is married and has three children, followed her on Twitter and slipped into her direct messages after midnight. It was a time when late Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's illicit drug use dominated headlines. McWatt was 23 and then-chair of the Toronto Youth Cabinet, which was reflected in her Twitter bio. Clement messaged her with a desire to talk municipal politics. McWatt felt he crossed a line. "He knew how young I was. That's creepy," she explained.

The first time Tony Clement dm'd me it was after 1am and I was Chair of the Youth Cabinet. There - said it. https://t.co/FKz0yeBtZN — Claire McWatt 🇬🇾 (@ClaireMcWatt) November 7, 2018

McWatt, a current municipal political staffer, said she ended the early-morning conversation by making a dig at Clement, mocking the $100,000 taxpayer-funded gazebo built in his riding during the G8 and G20 summits. Despite the brazen display of "totally inappropriate" behaviour for an MP, she said, he followed her on Instagram years later. "He went back through my timeline and liked pictures. But he always liked pictures of women, women with other women," said McWatt. Clement's social media habits earned him a reputation of being "weird on Instagram" — which was known among young political staffers across party lines, she said. Financial extortion claim The longtime Tory MP revealed in a statement Tuesday that he was "targeted" after sharing "sexually explicit images and a video" with someone he thought was a consenting female. He said the images, sent over the last three weeks, were then used for the "purpose of financial extortion" when the recipient demanded money in exchange for not releasing them to the public. "I recognize now that I have gone down a wrong path and have exercised very poor judgment," he said, adding he would resign from his justice critic and committee roles. On Thursday, Clement published a letter to constituents, admitting "poor decisions" in his personal and private life had led to "acts of infidelity." He also acknowledged that his social media behaviour may have unnerved people. "I apologize to the women with whom the exchanges occurred, and I also apologize to anyone else who felt in any way that I crossed online boundaries that made them feel uncomfortable, even without my knowing," he wrote. "I am deeply sorry." The RCMP are investigating the alleged extortion, which Global News reports was a demand for 50,000 euros. But the issue isn't just about an alleged extortion, McWatt said. "The common denominator here is young women," explaining that's what moved her to say something, hoping it would help others come forward.

We all knew for several years about the creepy Instagram likes and DMs. Five of my staff raised it with me. To my knowledge, all young women. Never overtly crossed a line but that's why women have been emphasizing scales of behaviour — Lauren Dobson-Hughes (@ldobsonhughes) November 8, 2018

For the record, I have 6 people blocked on Instagram and Tony Clement is one of them. We met at an event for young women in politics, he proceeded to like my pics dating back several years, he's old enough to be my dad. I thought it was weird, so I blocked him. — Sophie Geffros (@sgeffros) November 7, 2018