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Fred Chartrand, The Canadian Press
Senator Patrick Brazeau accepts the Bad Sport Award at the National Press Gallery Dinner Saturday in Gatineau, Quebec, Saturday November 3, 2012. A staff member for Brazeau says he is no longer a member of the Conservative caucus.
OTTAWA - Controversial and outspoken Sen. Patrick Brazeau was kicked out of the Conservative caucus Thursday amid media reports that he'd been arrested following a domestic disturbance at his home.
The entire Senate caucus was notified of the decision shortly after noon, said Lorraine Rochon, a staff member in his office.
"The Conservative Senate caucus has been advised by Sen. LeBreton's office that Sen. Brazeau has been removed from caucus effective immediately," Rochon said.
A spokeswoman for Conservative Senate Majority Leader Marjory LeBreton did not immediately return a call for comment on what prompted the removal.
Brazeau's office could not immediately confirm reports that the senator had been arrested.
Brazeau is also among the senators under scrutiny for claiming housing allowances on the grounds they live far from Ottawa, while in reality they spent most of the time in the nation's capital.
Controversy has dogged Brazeau, the youngest of Canada's 105 senators, since his appointment to the red chamber in December 2008.
He was criticized initially for his intention to serve as a senator while remaining national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.
He eventually resigned from CAP in January 2009 after news broke that a CAP employee had filed a sexual harassment complaint against him with Ontario's human rights tribunal.
He was also linked to allegations of CAP misspending of federal funds that were supposed to pay for aboriginal health programs. Conservatives argued, at the time, that the misspending happened before Brazeau took over as congress chief.
Over the years, reports have surfaced repeatedly of Brazeau being in arrears on child support payments.
He made the bigggest headlines last March when he fought a charity boxing match against Liberal MP Justin Trudeau, now front-runner for the federal Liberal leadership. Although bigger, heavier and allegedly more experienced in boxing than Trudeau, Brazeau lost the match.
More recently, Brazeau has come under fire for allegedly claiming his father's home as his primary residence in order to receive a Senate housing allowance. He's also alleged to have used his former father-in-law's address on a Quebec reserve to claim an aboriginal income tax exemption.
© The Canadian Press, 2013