Conservative MP Rick Dykstra denies buying alcohol for teens
Posted October 2, 2015 12:39 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Conservative MP Rick Dykstra is denying reports he bought alcohol for underage girls.
An article on BuzzFeed alleges Dykstra was at a St. Catharines nightclub on Sept. 2. He is seen in photos posing with young women, many of whom have drinks in their hands.
“Two separate underage girls also tweeted about him buying them alcohol that night,” the article on BuzzFeed reads.
In a statement to CityNews, Dykstra denied that he bought alcohol for the girls, whether individually or as part of his group’s bottle service.
“Mr. Dykstra did not purchase drinks for any of the individuals in question, nor did he see them consume any alcohol from the bottles he purchased,” the statement reads.
He said he was in the bar, with “members of his campaign team and his family.”
The statement went on to say that as they were “in a licensed establishment, where patrons are required to be 19 or older,” as well as Ontario’s “rigorous” ID requirements, Dykstra “had no reason to believe anyone in the establishment was underage.”
In a separate allegation in the same BuzzFeed article, one of the girls says she was offered a “bribe” by an alcohol representative who is also a Dykstra supporter. BuzzFeed claims that the girl was offered VIP service at the bar if she stopped Tweeting about the night.
CityNews has not been able to independently confirm those allegations.
The man no longer works as an alcohol representative and claims his offer of VIP status was made in jest.
In his statement to CityNews, Dykstra did not address the bribe.
Dykstra has been the MP for St. Catharines since 2006 and is running again this year.
