Where's Kevin Vuong? Embattled MP still silent on dropped sex assault charge following election
CBC
A full month after pledging to address a sexual assault charge levelled against him in 2019 and since withdrawn, newly elected Toronto MP Kevin Vuong has remained silent on the topic and out of sight.
Still active on social media — reposting messages from the prime minister and other Liberals — Vuong has not publicly responded to questions from constituents about why he failed to disclose details about his past to the party or the public.
Vuong ran as Liberal candidate to replace retiring MP Adam Vaughan in the downtown riding of Spadina—Fort York. After it emerged late in the campaign that Vuong had been charged previously with sexual assault — a charge that was later dropped — the party disavowed Vuong as a candidate and said that if he were elected, he would not serve as a Liberal MP.
That change came too late. All ballots in the riding still listed Vuong, a naval reservist and law school graduate, as the Liberal candidate.
On Sep. 22, two days after the vote, Vuong said he would "work hard to earn [voters'] trust" and later confirmed in a separate statement that he would sit as an MP without party affiliation. As for the past sexual assault allegation, he wrote: "I intend to address them at a later date more wholly in a dedicated forum."
Since then, both statements have been removed from his Twitter page and Vuong has not returned texts, calls, emails and Twitter direct messages from CBC News.
On Thursday, a journalist visited the Spadina Avenue address listed on Vuong's new House of Commons webpage. A building directory suggested the office still belonged to "Adam Vaughan, MP" and a message posted on the door directed constituency matters to Vaughan, the previous occupant.
Vuong tweeted this week about setting up his new constituency office: "What is within our control, we have been diligent to quickly action."
Some other new MPs arrived in Ottawa for orientation on Sep. 27 but CBC was unable to confirm whether Vuong appeared, in person or virtually.
A former campaign staffer said they did not know whether Vuong had been sworn in as an MP yet; some swearing-in ceremonies are being held in private due to pandemic protocols.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker of the House of Commons said they could not confirm whether Vuong had been sworn in but said all MPs would need to be before taking their seats.
Some of Vuong's constituents said they received no answers to their questions after reaching out to his office.
Nataliya Gurba emailed and tweeted at Vuong asking why he hasn't resigned after running as a Liberal and being forced to sit as an Independent. Gurba received a standard, automatic email response.
"As we are currently in the process of establishing our constituency procedures and protocols, please note that there may be longer than usual response times," the email reads.
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