Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper says he was aware of sexual assault allegations against a Conservative candidate in the 2015 federal election.
But Harper says his understanding was that the matter involving Rick Dykstra had been investigated by the police and closed a year earlier.
In a statement posted on Twitter Friday night, Harper says given his understanding of the situation at the time, he did not believe he could justify removing Dykstra from the ballot.
The allegations concern a 2014 incident involving Dykstra, who was then a Conservative member of Parliament, and a staff member on Parliament Hill. They were reported in Maclean's magazine earlier this week.
They have not been tested in court nor independently confirmed by The Canadian Press, and Dykstra has denied them.
The fact that senior members of the Conservative campaign team reportedly knew about Dykstra and chose to let him remain on as a candidate has also prompted current leader Andrew Scheer to launch an investigation.