A shadow follows Craitor’s campaign
Staffer who accused him of harassment plans role in election
Kim Craitor knows how it looks.
Six days short of his 10th anniversary as Liberal MPP for Niagara Falls, in September 2013 he suddenly, unexpectedly stepped down, saying he was “totally exhausted” and unable to do the job.
It took nearly three years, until May 2016, for the rest of the story to come out.
That’s when the public learned Craitor had been ordered to resign by then-premier Kathleen Wynne after her office investigated accusations of sexual harassment against Craitor by at least one of his office staff.
Craitor said then – and still insists – he did nothing wrong and has never been told specifically what he is accused of doing.
But he knows many people hear that and wonder: Why would an innocent person quit? Wouldn’t he stay and fight for his job?
“It certainly looks that way. It’s not that way, but it looks that
way,” he said.
“It’s done. I can’t change the past. I would have done things differently, but it happened so quickly,” all in the space of five or six days, he said.
“I would have done like Steve Paikin (the TVO broadcaster who faced a similar allegation) did and said, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, I’m not quitting … But at the time, I made the decision. I quit.”
Between the time he resigned as MPP and 2016 when the allegations surfaced, he ran for city council and won, topping the polls among 33 candidates in the 2014 municipal election.
Now the 17-year council veteran is running for mayor of Niagara Falls, hoping to unseat twoterm incumbent Jim Diodati in the Oct. 22 vote.
And Michelle Tavano, the woman who says she was harassed by Craitor, plans to be heard.
“I registered as a third party advertiser for this election to remind and inform the public of who the real Kim Craitor is,” said Tavano, who declined to be interviewed but responded to emailed questions.
She said she feels “a moral obligation to remind all potential voters of how this man treats his staff and who he really is.”
For the first time, the Ontario government is requiring third party advertisers to register before they can spend money, receive donations or participate in the municipal election.
In most cases, that involves unions and business or taxpayer groups that want to support or oppose a particular candidate or issue, but it also relates to private citizens who want to do the same.
Tavano registered before Craitor announced his candidacy.
She said she’d heard he was considering running and decided “it is important that potential voters know the truth.”
Acting city clerk Bill Matson said when Tavano registered, he had to check whether she was even eligible.
She too had run for council in 2014, but of the 33 candidates, two – Tavano and one other – failed to file a financial statement afterwards, detailing their campaign income and expenses and identifying any donors.
By not filing their statements with the clerk’s office, the two are suspended from running as candidates in the October election.
This is the seventh municipal election Matson has overseen, but the third party advertiser classification is new so he sought legal advice on whether someone suspended as a candidate could still be a third party advertiser. It’s not a problem, he was told. “A third party advertiser still has to file a financial statement after this election,” Matson said. “If they do not file, their penalty would be they cannot (register) again as a third party advertiser until after the next scheduled election has taken place.”
Tavano said this week she didn’t file a financial statement because she had decided she wouldn’t run again anyway.
She said to help cover her costs as an advertiser during this campaign, she’ll reach out to family and friends.
“Kim Craitor is no longer a MPP because a third party investigator found that there was substantial evidence of wrongdoing and the premier asked him to resign,” Tavano said.
“I want to make sure that all potential voters know how this man treats his staff when he is in a position of power. Niagara Falls has over 500 employees and it is unfair to put any of them in harm’s way.”
Tavano, though, has never publicly elaborated on the harassment and bullying she said she suffered. She declined again to answer this week.
Wynne didn’t elaborate, either, in 2016 when she confirmed she told Craitor to resign. And Craitor says he has never been told. Both his lawyer and, later, city council asked for a copy of any report that was written but the province refused.
Craitor, 71, said of the other three or four women who worked in his office before it was closed in 2013 by the Liberal party, two have since asked him to be a reference for housing or employment while a third signed his nomination papers and is working on his mayoral campaign.
“Why would I be a reference for these people” if staff found life in his office so difficult, he asked.
“I can only speak for myself,” Tavano said this week. “The other staffers reported their experiences and came forward during the third party investigation process” at Queen’s Park.
“Based on the evidence and reports given by each staff member, the premier of Ontario requested that Kim Craitor resign. … it is their decision to discuss or not this matter publicly.”
She said a non-disclosure agreement she signed with the Liberal party during the investigation no longer applies, and denies there was any financial payout beyond normal severance.
Craitor and Tavano agree on one thing – the experience has been hard on both of them and their families.
“There have been many challenges and difficulties … and for the longest time I was unable to trust. I was scared to be alone with a male superior,” Tavano said.
“When premier Wynne readdressed this issue in 2016, I was hospitalized for a week … My career was unfortunately impacted greatly, however, I remain proud for speaking up and telling the truth about who this man really is.”
Craitor said that after the allegations surfaced, he started receiving threatening phone calls, including at least one death threat he took to police.
“You’ve just got to say it and it becomes the (accepted) truth,” he said of the accusations.
He said: “For me, my whole life has changed. I will never go in a room, if there’s a woman, by myself … If I go to Club Italia, you know they sort of double-kiss. I don’t do that any more, I’m petrified. I won’t even hug anybody any more.”
He talked it over with his wife, Helen, and “she said you need to run. You didn’t do anything wrong, you’ve always wanted to be mayor and you’d be a good mayor.”
But he knows – and Tavano might agree – “I’ve opened it all up again. The nightmare starts all over again.”
“It’s done. I can’t change the past. I would have done things differently, but it happened so quickly.”
KIM CRAITOR