MPP Paul Miller says he was kicked out of the Ontario NDP via a Facebook line, although he never used social media, and now there is evidence of “multiple, unauthorized logins” leading to his account removal.
Hamilton East Stony Creek was ousted from the party in March after what the NDP described as a “model of disturbing behavior” that shows he can “harbor Islamophobic, homophobic and racist views”.
The NDP said it discovered during the investigation that Miller was a member of the Facebook group Worldwide Coalition Against Islam.
On Wednesday at Queen’s Park, Miller told a news conference that he had never logged in to Facebook and did not know the username or password for any of his office’s social media pages.
The IT investigators he hired have since found that at least a dozen people in his office have had access to social media pages since its inception in 2007, he added.
“We have convincing evidence that there have been many unauthorized logins to our account from many devices in many cities,” said Miller, who said he was working with a legal team and IT experts to investigate.
The password for Facebook has been changed only recently, MPP said.
Miller circulated printouts showing a January 30, 2018, Facebook statement saying “You have stopped being a member of the WCAI (World Coalition Against Islam).”
The pages he published included the name “Paul” at the top.
Miller said that was all he was given by the party to explain his removal, but that he was “absolutely not” a member of the Facebook group. He told reporters to look at his Facebook page, where there are “dozens and dozens of photos of me with the Sikh population, with the Muslim population.”
Miller handed out copies of the image, which he said was given to him by the Ontario NDP to explain why he was removed from the party. (Natasha McDonald-Dupuis / CBC)
“How can I leave a group that I have never joined or that I have some knowledge of on a platform that I have never used?” He asked.
NDP says behavior crosses “any reasonable limit”
An ODP spokesman in Ontario did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday, except that the party maintained its statement from last month.
Lucy Watson, provincial director of the New Democrats, said on March 23 that Miller had been expelled from the party because of “a pattern of behavior [that] exceed all reasonable limits “, including membership in the anti-Muslim group on Facebook.
“Every other candidate and every other member of the group – in any context and in an attempt to run for any reasonable party – will be disqualified because he was once a member of an Islamophobic, racist group,” the statement said.
He also cites a 2018 complaint to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal by former employee Todd White alleging that Miller harassed employees, made racist, sexist and homophobic comments, and misused campaign resources. .
White was an active party volunteer and chairman of the Hamilton-Wentworth School Board at the time.
Although the issue was “satisfactorily resolved”, according to the NDP, Watson cited alleged racist and homophobic remarks.
The Ontario NDP announced in March that Miller would not be allowed to run for the party in 2022 (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
The party said the “old model” continued with findings from an investigation by the Hamilton State School Board.
Miller’s wife, Carol Peykin Miller, is a trustee of Department 5 of the Hamilton-Wentworth School Board.
Her time as a trustee includes controversy, such as sanctions and calls for her resignation, following a report that some trustees made racist comments about a former student trustee named Ahona Mehdi.
One of the witnesses quoted in the report said a trustee identified by Mehdi as Paikin Miller and her husband could be heard “laughing and muttering under his breath in outrage” as other board members discussed ending the program. which puts police officers in schools.
Miller to run as an independent
Miller dismissed the mention of the NDP model as “complete nonsense” and said he believed his wife’s “situation” had nothing to do with his.
Miller added that he had applied to run as an independent for the June 2 election in the 2007 ride he will face, and will face:
- Jason Farr, a longtime city councilor running for the Liberals.
- Neil Lumsdon, a former CFL player with the PC Party in Ontario.
- Zaigham Butt, first-time NDP candidate.
He also said he had “numerous lawsuits” against NDP leader Andrea Horvat and the party, including for dismissal, defamation and human rights abuses.
“This is no longer a labor party,” Miller said, adding that he believed the party was moving in a different direction, but was unsure what it would be.
“It’s pretty scary what she’s doing,” he told Horvat.
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