Winnipeg mayoral candidate Glen Murray's time at 'dream job' mired by harassment, poor management allegations

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Glen Murray was forced to leave his "dream job" as the head of a clean energy think-tank after one year, following complaints about his management, according to former staff and communications obtained by CBC News.

Murray's lawyer denies this, claiming he resigned "for personal and family reasons."

A CBC News investigation into the 370 days Murray spent in 2017-18 as the executive director of the Pembina Institute — a Calgary-based environmental organization — also revealed allegations Murray used sexual innuendo in the workplace, physically harassed a former employee at a company gathering and drank to excess at some organization functions.

Former Pembina employees described Murray as a "chaotic personality" who breached confidentiality, refused to accept briefings, failed to show up to some internal meetings, showed up late to some meetings with government and corporate leaders, often did not respond to communications and engaged in questionable management practices.

Murray's campaign declined repeated requests for interviews about his time at Pembina. The candidate himself said on Tuesday he would be happy to answer questions about Pembina and advised CBC News to make an appointment, but his campaign later denied the request.

Murray's lawyer, Bailey Harris, said in a letter on Tuesday any harassment allegations against Murray stemming from his time at Pembina are "categorically untrue" and said they were never brought to her client's attention.

"Mr. Murray wishes to be very clear: no allegation or report of sexual harassment was ever raised with Mr. Murray while he was employed by the Pembina Institute or after," Harris said in her letter.

A Probe Research poll published Sept. 23 suggested Murray was the leading candidate to become Winnipeg's next mayor in the Oct. 26 election, with the support of 40 per cent of decided Winnipeg voters.

Murray originally served as Winnipeg's mayor from 1998 until 2004, halfway through his second term, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid to become a federal Liberal member of Parliament.

He then moved to Toronto, where he was eventually elected in 2010 as a Liberal member of Ontario's Provincial Parliament. Within months, he was appointed to cabinet.

In 2017, a year before an Ontario election the Liberals would lose, Murray resigned his Toronto Centre seat to become the Pembina Institute's new executive director.

"There's no good time to get into politics and no great time to get out of politics," Murray told the Globe and Mail.

Murray, who had served as the Liberal-appointed chair of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy shortly after leaving his job as Winnipeg's mayor, called his new gig at the helm of Pembina his "dream job."

Founded in the 1980s, the institute conducts research and analysis into energy use and provides recommendations about energy policy.