'I will never sit in a cabinet or caucus with Sherry Gambin-Walsh,' says Eddie Joyce
Feels he will be vindicated once his side of the story is told
Eddie Joyce responded to the controversy surrounding reports of harassment in the House of Assembly by saying he won't be returning to the Liberal cabinet or caucus if Sherry Gambin-Walsh is still a sitting member.
"I will never sit in a cabinet or caucus with Sherry Gambin-Walsh, just on principle alone, and just for protection of me and my family," Joyce told CBC News.
Joyce said he's not putting pressure on the premier because he respects the position, but feels he will be vindicated once his side of the story is told.
"That's not an ultimatum. I'm just saying what I'm going to do," Joyce said.
Joyce said Gambin-Walsh filed an allegation under what he calls code six of the code of conduct saying that he was financially bankrupt and therefore shouldn't be in the House of Assembly.
"How can I sit with a person, who puts in an allegation, code six, that your financial affairs must be in order," he said.
"There's no way in the world where Sherry Gambin-Walsh would ever know my finances, with my family."
Eddie Joyce is now refusing to sit in the same caucus as Sherri Gambin Walsh after the complaints she made. I don't see how the premier puts humpty dumpty back together again <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nlpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#nlpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/YqNiQoDgZZ">pic.twitter.com/YqNiQoDgZZ</a>
—@PeterCBCThe investigation into harassment complaints found Joyce had broken the code of conduct for elected officials, mainly about how he lobbied to have a friend hired for a government job.
Sherry Gambin-Walsh is the minister whose complaint resulted in the report.
However, another report cleared Joyce of other accusations that he acted improperly. The allegations of intimidation and bullying were made by Tracey Perry, PC MHA for Fortune Bay-Cape La Hune.
With files from Peter Cowan