OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has ordered an independent review into how Rick Dykstra was allowed to run even though party officials reportedly knew he faced allegations of sexual assault.

The decision marks a reversal for Scheer who was non-committal about the prospect of an internal review earlier in the week.

But with concerns of harassment and abuse sweeping political circles, senior Conservative MPs had pressured Scheer to investigate how Dykstra remained a flag-bearer for the party in the 2015 federal election.

Dykstra stepped down as president of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives Sunday, hours before an explosive report in Maclean’s magazine detailed allegations he sexually assaulted a party staffer when he was a Conservative MP in 2014.

According to the report, Conservative party brass were made aware of allegations against Dykstra, but allowed him to run in the 2015 election anyway.

“People (are) coming forward with their version of events. Some publicly, some put their name behind it and some anonymously. It’s very difficult for someone to make a determination of finding of fact in that scenario,” Scheer told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

“I certainly take everyone at their word, and we’ll see what an independent third party report produces.”

As of Wednesday morning, when the Conservative MPs gathered for their weekly caucus meeting, the party had not committed to an internal review. Scheer had previously told the Canadian Press he couldn’t speak for decisions made by the party before he became leader.

Maxime Bernier, who placed a close second behind Scheer in the party’s 2017 leadership race, told reporters Wednesday morning that the party “must answer questions” about why Dykstra was allowed to run. The sentiment was echoed by another leadership rival, Brad Trost, who wrote there “absolutely” must be an investigation.

A few hours later, Scheer announced a strengthened code of conduct for staff and candidates, including mandatory training, and an independent review into the incident.

“The key is to make sure if there were breakdowns, if there was a lack of a process, if any of these allegations are true, then we obviously have to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future,” Scheer said.

“I think we can all agree on that.”

The allegations against Dykstra have not been tested in court. Dykstra denied the allegations, but did not specifically address Maclean’s reporting.

In that report, a young staffer filed a police complaint in 2014 alleging that after a night of drinking in Ottawa, Dykstra forced her to perform oral sex on him.

According to Maclean’s, the allegations were brought to party brass in the lead up to the 2015 election, but Dykstra was still allowed to run as a Conservative.

He lost and went on to become the president of the provincial party.

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In the House of Commons Monday, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said those responsible for approving Dykstra’s candidacy “should be ashamed of themselves.”

“Is it possible for a drunk staffer to give consent for sex to a senior male in a workplace organization who aggressively propositions that staffer? Within any standard workplace code of conduct, the answer to that should be unequivocally ‘no,’” Rempel said.

“Today, there was a report that, at one crucial point within my party, this was a topic for debate, and that is disgusting. In that incident, media reports say that people sat around a very senior table and argued semantics around whether action in our workplace should be taken because criminal charges were not proceeded with.

“Those people should be ashamed of themselves, and they should have no role or influence in this or any political party.”

Repeated calls to Guy Giorno, the Conservatives’ 2015 campaign director, and Jenni Byrne, the 2015 campaign manager, were not returned Wednesday evening.

In a statement to the Globe and Mail, Giorno said he was not aware of the “specifics’ of the allegation against Dykstra. He said he was only aware that police had investigated Dykstra for something and had closed the file. He said he did not know the police had closed the file at the request of the complainant.

Scheer’s decision to launch a review comes after a week that has shaken politics at both Queen’s Park and in Ottawa — with the leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives, Patrick Brown, Dykstra, and federal Liberal sport minister Kent Hehr resign over allegations of sexual harassment or assault.

Asked if the sudden outpouring of revelations about sexual harassment on Parliament Hill had sparked any self-reflection about his own past actions or behaviour, Scheer said, “no.”

“A good friend of mine, when I first got elected, said nothing good happens in Ottawa after 8 o’clock,” Scheer said.

Faced with a similar question, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he believed “we can all do better in our past.

“I was talking… a couple of days ago, about the idea of the presumption of innocence. And the presumption of innocence is a fundamental hallmark of our criminal justice system,” he told reporters.

“But if we want to change the culture of silence and the culture where women have seen their power stripped from them, where we’ve seen gender-based violence, then we need to do something different.”

With a file from Alex Ballingall

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