Former Tory cabinet minister Fielding charged with sexual assault

A former provincial cabinet minister and Winnipeg city councillor has been accused of sexually assaulting a colleague at a hotel following a work conference in 2024.

Winnipeg Police Service sex crimes investigators arrested Scott Fielding, 53, on Thursday and charged him with sexual assault. He was released on an undertaking ahead of a future court date.

The accused and the alleged victim, a 34-year-old woman, were working at the same private firm in March 2024, when both attended a conference in Winnipeg, police said Friday.

During one evening of the conference, Fielding and the woman attended various establishments socially with their co-workers before he escorted her back to her hotel room, where police allege a sexual assault occurred.

In January 2025, the woman reported the incident to police in another jurisdiction; they informed Winnipeg police sex crimes investigators.

Winnipeg investigators consulted with Crown prosecutors, who authorized the charge, police said.

Fielding was elected city councillor for the St. James-Brooklands ward in 2006. He held the council seat until the 2014 municipal election, when he instead sought the Progressive Conservative nomination in Kirkfield Park constituency.

He was elected in the 2016 election that swept the PCs to power under former premier Brian Pallister. He was named families minister that same year.

He was appointed minister of finance in 2018, a position he retained after his re-election in 2019.

Fielding announced in June 2022 that he had resigned from cabinet under former PC premier Heather Stefanson and that he would not seek re-election in the 2023 election.

The Free Press reported in October 2022 that Fielding had landed a role as a deal adviser at KPMG, one of Canada’s largest private consulting firms.

His role involved providing advice to clients in Western Canada and at the national level, focusing on “economic development, infrastructure, finance, fiscal performance, organizational transformation and strategy,” a KPMG ad published in the newspaper’s business section said at the time.

According to court documents obtained by CBC News, both Fielding and the victim were working at the firm at the time of the alleged assault. KPMG conducted an internal investigation, and Winnipeg police filed a production order in November 2025 to obtain a copy after the woman reported the allegation.

The sexual assault happened after the party, according to the sworn affidavit of a WPS detective, also obtained by CBC News.

After the party, Fielding “continuously purchased alcoholic beverages for her, as well as other colleagues,” the detective wrote.

According to the affidavit, he later escorted the woman to the hotel room and “forced his way in.”

“She pleaded with him to stop but he ignored her pleas,” the detective wrote. “She attempted to crawl away, but he continued to be forceful and yell profanities at her.”

The document says the woman suffered bite marks and scratches, but did not seek medical attention or undergo a sexual assault exam.

She reported the assault to RCMP, but the file was closed and forwarded to Winnipeg police after “contact attempts were met with negative results.” The victim later told police she was prepared to move forward, and investigators from another jurisdiction took a statement from her in 2025.

The investigation involved interviews with witnesses, and police obtained documentation from the woman’s psychologist that included references to her being sexually assaulted in March 2024, CBC reported.

One witness told police he did not observe any “concerning behaviour between the two that evening,” according to a court document.

KPMG received notice of a formal complaint in April 2024 and launched an independent internal investigation. Fielding resigned from the firm after it concluded, the document said.

KPMG Canada spokesperson Alannah Page confirmed Fielding is no longer with the firm.

“KPMG has co-operated with the police investigation,” she wrote in an email. “As this matter is before the courts, we are unable to provide further comment.”

The Free Press was unable to reach Fielding for comment Friday.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca