the burden of proof is on the news outlet.

there are news outlets that hurl allegations towards "famous" (i don't know if this guy is famous in canada or not) people all the time
and they never back up them up with concrete evidence.
they're called tabloids.

either this publication has just blown the lid off some sort of scandal or they've completely sullied their reputation by publishing a tabloid-esque story drafted entirely off unproven allegation in an otherwise "legitimate" news publication.

the ball is really in their court now...

if they don't in some way prove their story's allegations - i would think it is going to massively hurt their publication's reputation as well as leave them open to a libel suit.