Former Manitoba Finance Minister Scott Fielding speaks to the media at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mikaela MacKenzie – POOL)
A former Manitoba cabinet minister and Winnipeg councillor has been charged following a sexual assault investigation.
Police say Scott Fielding, 53, was arrested on Thursday in connection with an alleged assault at a downtown Winnipeg hotel in early March 2024.
Police allege Fielding and a 34-year-old woman, who were employed at the same firm at the time, attended a conference and were out socially before he escorted her back to her hotel room. That’s where the assault is alleged to have occurred, according to police.
The incident was reported to police in another jurisdiction in January 2025 and later referred to Winnipeg investigators.
Fielding has been charged with sexual assault and released on an undertaking.
Fielding was a Winnipeg city councillor from 2006 to 2014 in the St. James-Brooklands ward. He ran in the 2016 provincial election with the Progressive Conservatives, who were elected to power the same year. He won re-election with the Tories in 2019 to represent the Kirkfield Park constituency for a second time.
The father of three oversaw multiple portfolios as a cabinet minister in provincial politics, including finance, families, and natural resources.
Fielding left politics in June 2022, writing on social media at the time, “Public service is extremely important but also means making great sacrifices to family life. I really am looking forward to spending more quality time with my family and friends as I start a new chapter in my life.”
The charges against Fielding haven’t been tested in court.
