The Ontario Progressive Conservatives have expelled Sault Ste. Marie MPP Chris Scott from caucus after he was charged with assault and assault with a weapon in connection with an alleged incident of intimate partner violence.
Court records show the 35-year-old was arrested over the weekend and released on bail Monday. The alleged weapon named in the charges was a high chair. Evidence from Scott’s bail hearing is covered by a standard publication ban, and the allegations have not yet been tested in court.
Premier Doug Ford confirmed Scott’s removal but declined to provide further details. “I was informed literally in the parking lot, as we were going through here,” Ford told reporters at an unrelated press conference. “Go to Sault Ste. Marie police. I don’t want to interfere in a police investigation.”
Police in Sault Ste. Marie said Toronto officers arrested Scott Sunday following an investigation by local detectives. “To protect the privacy of the victim(s), no further details regarding the incident or the charges will be released,” the service said in a statement. Calls to Scott’s constituency office went unanswered.
Scott was elected just seven months ago in the February snap election, narrowly defeating the NDP candidate in a race that had previously been held by former PC cabinet minister Ross Romano. He had been serving as a parliamentary assistant to Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce. Before entering elected office, Scott worked in several senior staff roles for the PCs at Queen’s Park, including as an adviser to the premier’s chief of staff.
The opposition NDP, pointing to the seriousness of the allegations, immediately called on Scott to resign his seat.
The charges have rattled the governing party and raised fresh scrutiny of its candidate vetting process, leaving Ford’s government without its newly elected northern Ontario representative as the criminal case proceeds.