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Former senator Don Meredith was found not guilty in his criminal trial on sexual assault charges on Wednesday.

Meredith was facing 3 counts of sexual assault, 1 count of criminal harassmentJohn Paul Tasker · CBC News · Posted: Oct 29, 2025 9:57 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoText to Speech Icon

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Headshot of Don Meredith.Former senator Don Meredith is seen in his Toronto lawyer’s office on March 16, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Former senator Don Meredith was found not guilty in his criminal trial on sexual assault charges on Wednesday.

It brings to a close a years-long Senate scandal that tarnished the chamber’s reputation as a safe place to work and shone a spotlight on how difficult it is to remove a wayward member.

Meredith, who resigned from the upper house before he could be expelled for an alleged sexual relationship with a teenager, was facing three counts of sexual assault and one count of criminal harassment relating to his alleged treatment of a former employee, who testified in this case that he engaged in unwanted touching and kissing and abused his power as a parliamentarian.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.P. Tasker is a journalist in CBC’s parliamentary bureau who reports for digital, radio and television. He is also a regular panellist on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics. He covers the Conservative Party, Canada-U.S. relations, Crown-Indigenous affairs, health policy and the Senate. You can send story ideas and tips to J.P. at jp.tasker@cbc.ca

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