Ontario PC Party President Rick Dykstra says he is stepping down from his role as the party moves to select a new leader to replace Patrick Brown.
Dykstra made the announcement via Twitter Sunday night.
“It has a wonderful experience to watch the party's renewal and over the next couple of months we will see the party coalesce around a new Leader,” Dykstra said in the tweet. “As this process unfolds, I have made the decision to step aside as President and take a step back for someone else to lead us through the hard work.”
Dykstra didn’t say why it was necessary for him to step aside.
Late Sunday night, Maclean’s published a story containing allegations that a young Conservative staffer was sexually assaulted following a party in Ottawa back when Dykstra served as an MP in 2014.
In its story, the magazine said Dykstra announced his resignation two hours after being contacted for comment about the allegations.
CP24 has not independently verified the allegations and Dykstra made no reference to them in his announcement.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
Dykstra’s announcement comes just days after the stunning resignation of Patrick Brown as PC Party Leader amid separate allegations of sexual misconduct in a story published by CTV News hours earlier.
Brown’s departure has triggered a leadership contest for the party, with roughly five months to go before voters in Ontario head to the polls. MPP Vic Fedeli has taken over as interim leader in the wake of Brown’s departure.
Dykstra did not say who will replace him.
Dykstra has been party president since March 2016.
Two key staffers now back amid shakeup
The latest resignation comes as two other key members of the party return to jobs they resigned after the allegations against Brown came to light.
The party's chief of staff, Alykhan Velshi, and director of communications, Nick Bergamini, are both now back at their jobs, The Canadian Press reported Sunday.
The return was announced in an email sent to party staff by Velshi on Sunday. The email also outlined a reorganization of the party and the elimination of many high-level roles.
Velshi noted a need for reorganization following the change in leadership and said the changes were based on recommendations he made to Fedeli.
He said the decisions had nothing to do with Fedeli's own campaign objectives to become the party's next leader.
- with files from The Canadian Press
