ACCUSED HALIFAX NDP EX-MP SAYS SORRY
Allegations of inappropriate behaviour
Former NDP MP Peter Stoffer apologized Friday after a National Post investigation revealed three women accusing him of inappropriate sexual behaviour. His awkward public statement came along with intense NDP soulsearching over sexual harassment on Parliament Hill.
“It is obvious, by some of the comments that I’ve heard recently from some people from the past, they’re saying that some of my demeanour, some of my comments were inappropriate,” Stoffer said in his hastily called media conference in Halifax.
“And for that I humbly apologize without reservation.”
Stoffer was an extraordinarily popular member of Parliament for a suburban Halifax riding from 1997 to 2015.
But the Post’s initial investigation into women having unpleasant and unwanted experiences with Stoffer spanning years also highlighted a lack of action over their concerns by the NDP.
On Thursday, when contacted by the Post about allegations from three women who spoke of his sexually inappropriate behaviour, along with some corroborating information from two former NDP MPs, he said he didn’t recall any of the incidents and denied they happened.
His stance soften Friday after NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said he believed the allegations and was “deeply disturbed” by them, declaring the party’s harassment policies “were insufficient.”
At Friday’s six-minute statement to the media, while not addressing any specific complaint, Stoffer apologized five times.
“Everybody knows I’m a hugger and I’m a touchy person in this regard,” Stoffer said. “If anyone feels those actions were untoward, I regrettably apologize…. I did not in any way in my intention intend to insult or demean or belittle any person in this regard,” he said.
The Post’s revelation caused many NDP insiders to question why their party was not able to end concerns about Stoffer.
“One of the reasons I left politics is because of the NDP’s inability to just deal with misogyny and sexual harassment within the party.” “Everybody knew about the Stoffer thing,” said Laurie Colella, a former national vice-president of the NDP and former deputy director of communications in the office of former NDP leader Jack Layton.
She said concerns over Stoffer’s behaviour were well known and he subjected her, on several occasions, to comments and invasive questions of a sexual nature, she said.
The problem is bigger than one man, she said.
“Talking about it didn’t help. Talking to senior people didn’t help. They didn’t do anything about it. They didn’t listen to a group of MPs. The women and senior staff sat together on a regular basis on how they would get the men to listen to them. And that didn’t help,” Colella said.
“As long as they keep saying ‘Yeah, but he is really useful for the party so let’s not make too many waves,’ it will allow these type of things to go on. You’re so busy getting to the goal, which was at the time to get the NDP elected.”
Steve Moran, the NDP’s former deputy chief of staff, read the allegations against Stoffer made by Lauren Dobson-Hughes to the Post and said he was “sickened, but not surprised.” He was her supervisor at the time of one of the occasions she said Stoffer grabbed and kissed her. He is now the Quebec representative to the NDP’s federal executive.
“I accept my responsibility in not providing a harassment-free environment. I clearly failed in my duty in this regard,” he wrote on Facebook. “I’m of course willing to participate fully and openly in any investigation.
The only solution at this point is a persistent, visible and thorough commitment from all levels of the party to addressing past wrongs and to doing better in the future.”
Jerry Toews, a former organizer for the NDP, said there was wide complicity in such events.
“I, too, was witness to unacceptable behaviour by this MP and others while on the Hill, including during my time as local union president,” Toews wrote. “A culture of deification of MPs and senior officials within the Party was strongly embedded in us while I was there — and I’m sure it still exists.”
The NDP’s status of women critic, Sheila Malcolmson, said, “I knew that the #MeToo movement, and this very important disclosure by women and others in a position where they’re kind of subject to a power dynamic like we see in Parliament, I knew that this would likely hit all parties. And nevertheless I was so sad to see the stories,” she said.