Projet Montreal's Plante faces transparency questions after councillor reveals 'unfounded' sexual assault complaint

Projet Montreal leader Valerie Plante is being criticized for not being transparent about her party after one of her candidates revealed he was the subject of a sexual assault complaint that was closed by police.

Craig Sauvé, councillor of Saint-Henri-Est-Petite-Bourgogne-Pointe-Saint-Charles-Griffintown, said in a written statement that the complaint against him was in relation to an incident in 2012 that he said was deemed “unfounded.”

Sauvé, who is running for re-election, identified himself as the subject of a CBC Montreal report on Thursday morning that accused incumbent mayor Plante of falsely claiming in 2020 she didn’t know about the allegations and a mediation process that ended in 2018.

The CBC report didn’t name the candidate, but on Thursday Sauvé released a statement to address the questions swirling around the Project Montreal leadership.

“I have dealt with this allegation in a collaborative and respectful manner and after a thorough investigation, the police have closed the file. I want to be clear with everyone, I categorically deny these allegations,” he wrote in a statement to the media Thursday afternoon