Senator urged to resign after 'disgusting' relationship with teenage girl

[partshark]

Oh, Canada. Took too long for that to be made clear in the article.

Too long? The GD article is from a Canadian news source. The first thing they do is mention the Canadian Prime Minister. Seriously, not EVERYTHING needs to be spelled out in short, blunt sentences. Use that big beautiful brain, Brad.

[Halicia]

Is it so wrong to write a letter of recommendation for someone you have a personal relationship with ?

There's doesn't appear to be any quid pro quo here, just an attempt to help someone out.

[prwraith]

What country it happened in is irrelevant. What matters is the action of the individual and what penalty he should face.

The country it happened in is extremely relevant. If a ugandian senator happens to have done this, why would I care?

[Tennis]

The country it happened in is extremely relevant. If a ugandian senator happens to have done this, why would I care?

Where's your humanity? It matters no matter where it happened. We can't let public officials exploit their position of power.

[Mihalik]

Where's your humanity? It matters no matter where it happened. We can't let public officials exploit their position of power.

I don't exactly get what you want. You just seem to be fishing for outrage or flaming. I'm unsure.

He is being asked to resign, he most likely will face substantial political pressure to do so. She was of legal age, adultery is not a crime in Canada (nor should it be a crime anywhere). His person and political reputation is damaged.

Beyond that I don't know what exactly you are wanting here.

If you are suggesting he should face jail time, say so, and reason why. If not stop fishing for comments.

[prwraith]

Where's your humanity? It matters no matter where it happened. We can't let public officials exploit their position of power.

You're trying to engineer outrage.

If the country of said senator routinely rapes women, gives them less rights than a dog, and overlal isn't a nice place to be has a senator dating a preteen I'm going to give exactly 0 fucks.

[Wildtree]

Teenager...... reeks like a scandal...

Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen


Teen - ager

Next question..

[Yuyn]

Is it so wrong to write a letter of recommendation for someone you have a personal relationship with ?

A secret, sexual relationship? Yeah, yeah it is.

[prwraith]

A secret, sexual relationship? Yeah, yeah it is.

Happens all the time. Almost a part of business school at this point.

[Celista]

I don't really see a problem here. 'Power imbalance' relationships are beneficial for both parties in the vast majority of cases; although 'power imbalance' is perhaps the wrong way to describe it, because that girl clearly held quite a bit of power over the senator.

What is disgusting to me is your disgust, and the inevitable disgust of others who are about to assail this thread.

What a world we live in, where people view these situations as "mutually beneficial" and not one abusing one's position in order to get laid/sexually grooming young women (or men) for exploitation.

[judgementofantonidas]

He was married. It's disgusting what he did. Read the article.

HE WAS MARRIED!!! The sexual urge should have been brainwashed out of him!!!!

[Arewn]

What a world we live in, where people view these situations as "mutually beneficial" and not one abusing one's position in order to get laid/sexually grooming young women (or men) for exploitation.

I'm not saying this is the situation here, but you do realize the opposite does happens as well, right?
Confident young people making use of their sexuality to take advantage of desperate older people in order to gain power/stuff.

Or, at times, it truly is a neutral situation as Quetzl laid out, wherein both parties are knowingly benefiting.

People sometimes view these situations that way because sometimes that is literally what the situation is.

[Underverse]

What a world we live in, where people view these situations as "mutually beneficial" and not one abusing one's position in order to get laid/sexually grooming young women (or men) for exploitation.

I've been in one of these types of power imbalance relationships, as the 'young and naive' one. It was highly beneficial for me; indeed, I had more power in the relationship granted to me by my sex appeal, which I was able to use as leverage (although the relationship wan't just about sex). If you want to call this an abuse of power, come up with some evidence. Demonstrate that this man is coercing this woman to have sex with him. Because if he isn't it's not an abuse of power. And grooming? Please. She was 17+. She made the decision to interact with him sexually.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm not saying this is the situation here, but you do realize the opposite does happens as well, right?
Confident young people making use of their sexuality to take advantage of desperate older people in order to gain power/stuff.

I would say this is far more common and likely than the inverse, especially with the harsh social penalties in place if people find out about this kind of stuff. All the girl in this situation has to do is make it public, and he gets broadly condemned. And that's exactly what happened. If anything, the Senator has been taken advantage of here.

But even without harsh social penalties, these relationships only become more egalitarian in consequence as there are fewer avenues through which one individual would be able to abuse the other.

In any case, as long as the relationship is not coerced, I have a hard time calling it abuse. And if there's coercion in any kind of relationship, it should be investigated and penalized.

[dextersmith]

Only a country like Newfoundland would keep such a senator!

*I'm kidding, I know it's not a country.

[shrunken]

Girl was of legal age, yes? Then who are we to judge a man for simply gettin' it in. If anyone is to blame here, clearly it's his wife and her lackluster performance in their marriage that forced his hand.

[dextersmith]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Meredith's expulsion is "a question for Senate leadership. … It is not for me to weigh in on how the Senate should conduct itself, but every politician in Canada, senator or MP, needs to conduct themselves in a way that is worthy of the public trust placed in them."

Says the guy who took the ethically suspicious vacation.

[Mistame]

He was married. It's disgusting what he did. Read the article.

Ethics officers exist for a reason. To interpret the code and expose those who violate it.

He's a member of the Senate. We have standards over here.

Sorry, "ethics" does not cover one's intimate practices. As has been mentioned before, one's private life is just that, private. His being married, cheating, etc, are all irrelevant.

We can't let public officials exploit their position of power.

If you're going to use words, it's important to understand how they work.

[Saucexorzski]

What is with folks wanting to control other folks sex lives!

[araine]

just your typical family values guy, he was with conservative party of Canada up until just recently

[dcschess05]

This guys morale compass is way off if these allegations are true. It sounds like the relationship was legal, but the guy is clearly a dirtbag. Don't agree with his actions at all.