MPP Chris Scott made his first public appearance in the Sault today since he was charged on Sept. 21.
The rookie MPP sat directly in front of NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who has been calling on him to resign, at the Remembrance Day ceremony at GFL Memorial Gardens.
Scott was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party until Premier Doug Ford removed him from his caucus on Sept. 22 after he was charged with assault and assault with a weapon.
He is accused of assaulting his wife with a high chair in a Sept. 19 incident.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and Scott is considered innocent until proven guilty.
Yesterday Stiles was handing out hot meals to people in need at Grocer 4 Good on Gore Street during one of a few visits to the area since Scott was charged.
"I'm worried that Sault Ste. Marie doesn't have a very active representative right now and I want to make sure that we don't forget what's happening here," Stiles said.
She said Ford didn't go far enough when he kicked Scott out of the PC caucus.
"The government should have said, 'you know what, you're not just out of our caucus but you should do the right thing and resign now.'
“That's what they should have done, and give the people here an opportunity to choose somebody who could fight for them," said Stiles.
"I don't know what he thinks he's doing. He's making a paycheque, but he's not here in the Sault."
Scott’s lawyer, Michael Lacy, was in court for a pretrial last week.
His case will return to court tomorrow, which is also when Stiles will meet with the United Steelworkers.
When asked on Facebook messenger what he planned to do in the Sault, Scott said: "I have a few meetings and will spend time in the community."
He said he was looking forward to the meetings tomorrow "because I will be speaking in the House next week."
Scott wouldn't say what it was regarding, but he said he would speak next Wednesday at around noon.
With files from Kenneth Armstrong