Meet the Millers: He was just ousted from the NDP, she’s been asked to resign as HWDSB trustee

The decision to turf longtime MPP Paul Miller from the New Democratic Party just ahead of a provincial election was a shocker - at least to those unfamiliar with the veteran politician's family politics.

The typically outspoken Miller is certainly no stranger to controversy.

The 71-year-old has an admitted history" of behind-the-scenes conflict with NDP leader Andrea Horwath dating back to his first party nomination win in 2007. Miller was also accused of workplace bullying and making racist remarks by his own NDP office staffer in a human rights complaint before the 2018 vote.

But the former Stoney Creek councillor and steelworker survived and thrived through it all, earning close to half of all votes cast or better in his East Hamilton-Stoney Creek riding in each of the past three elections.

So why boot him now, just weeks ahead of the next provincial election campaign?

The party's eventual explanation - it took nearly a week - focused on its belief Miller joined a virulently anti-Muslim Facebook group. The technophobe MPP denies the allegation and says legal action against the NDP is pending.

But an NDP statement also publicly highlighted what it called a pattern of troubling behaviour" that suggested Miller may harbour Islamophobic, homophobic and racist views."

As proof, it pointed to the 2018 workplace human rights allegations - which were never tested by the tribunal due to a parallel grievance settlement - and unspecified revelations" in a racism probe at Hamilton's public school board just last year.

That school board reference might be a head-scratcher to outsiders, since the MPP does not work in education.

But his wife, Carole Paikin Miller, is a trustee who was sanctioned and faced calls to resign last year following the referenced school board racism probe. She also won her trustee position in a much-watched 2018 election battle - against the same NDP office staffer who complained about Paul Miller to the human rights tribunal.

Miller has publicly rejected any allegations of racism - on his own behalf, and on behalf of his partner. I am not a racist in any way, shape or form," declared the now-independent MPP in a recent Queen's Park scrum.

In an interview Friday, Miller criticized The Spectator for its reporting on the allegations against both himself and Paikin Miller, dismissing them as a political assassination" attempt. Everybody has enemies in politics and there's a certain group in Hamilton who have been after me for a long time ... they want Carole and I out," he said.

In an earlier interview, he suggested the NDP is pushing out all the old guys" because it wants younger candidates, diversified candidates."

Paikin Miller did not return calls or emails for this story, but she defended herself at length in a written response, obtained by The Spectator last year, to the school board probe.

I am the least racist person I know," she wrote in a letter that panned the investigation report as unfair hearsay and a total distortion of my words and perspective." She suggested in the letter that the fact she is Jewish makes her an easy target" for false accusations that she is anti-Muslim.

She has also argued investigators - including lawyer Arlene Huggins, a noted human rights law expert - did not factor into the report her lifelong legacy in anti-racism," including as an author of an anti-racism book for kids.

Miller has labelled the party's effort to link the school board probe to his own behaviour as total nonsense."

But NDP officials aren't alone in linking the political couple in controversy.

Vocal labour activist Barry Conway - who Miller dismissed in an interview as an enemy" spreading mistruths" - called the couple two peas in a pod" in a series of tweets pleading with steel workers to abandon their traditional strong support for the MPP, who started out at Stelco.

That support obviously still exists. Current and past steelworker union leaders recently told The Spectator they simply don't believe the allegations levelled at Miller and that they plan to support him as an independent candidate in East Hamilton-Stoney Creek.

Conway expressed dismay that local union workers posed with both Millers for photos at a Labour Day event despite calls for the trustee to resign over school board investigation findings she made overtly anti-Muslim remarks. We owe nothing to racist politicians," he said in a tweet.

Ahona Mehdi, a former student trustee who spurred the original public school board probe after going public with allegations of racist behaviour by four board members, argued on Twitter that racialized Hamiltonians have been harmed by the Millers."

None of this is shocking. Folks who find it shocking have just *chosen* not to listen," she tweeted after Miller was booted from the NDP caucus.

In an interview, Mehdi said she has personally heard Paikin Miller make anti-Muslim comments.

She also noted the trustee was censured for including her husband in a private school board meeting and that the investigative report referenced both Paikin Miller and the MPP scoffing and muttering under their breath in indignation" during virtual meeting discussion of anti-Black racism and policing in schools.

I think they are very much involved in each other's careers," Mehdi said. And the way they defend each other ... speaks volumes."

The couple certainly has not been shy about going to bat for each other in public.

In interviews, Miller dismissed the school board findings about his wife as fabrications" and argued she was unjustly accused" by unnamed school board members who were gunning for her." He also dismissed the school board's investigation as unproven speculation."

Paikin Miller, meanwhile, has taken to Facebook to defend the now-independent MPP who has argued his social media technophobia proves he could not have joined the online group Worldwide Coalition Against Islam.

If ever there was a trumped up lie this is it. I can attest to your NEVER posting on social media," reads a post from Paikin Miller's Facebook account. People might want to ask themselves why the lies are always anti-Islamist ... Andrea knows the close friendship we have with the Muslim community."

Paul Miller has also pointed to Muslim friends and members of his former riding association as evidence he is not racist.

The president of the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek NDP riding association, Zahid Butt, told The Spectator earlier this month he considered Miller a friend and did not believe he had done anything wrong. But he has not responded to requests for comment since the NDP outlined specific allegations against Miller.

That kind of argument from the Millers is painful" to hear, said Mehdi. It's like saying you can't be racist because I have a Black friend.' That doesn't somehow exempt you from causing harm," said the founding member of Hamilton Students for Justice, who is now a University of Ottawa student.

It shows such a sense of entitlement ... non-Muslim people do not get to decide what is or isn't Islamophobia."

The National Council of Canadian Muslims has also weighed in, publicly thanking the Ontario New Democrats online for removing Miller from caucus. There should be no place for Islamophobia in politics," the national body tweeted last month.

Both Conway and Mehdi also pointed to the 2018 human rights allegations against the MPP as evidence of a long-standing problem.

That strange tale also ended up featuring both Millers.

Paikin Miller, a retired teacher, earned her Ward 5 trustee position by beating out former school board chair Todd White in a closely watched election race in 2018.

Most school board election races tend to fly under the radar.

But White was an 11-year NDP office staffer for Paul Miller who went public earlier that year with a human rights complaint containing allegations of workplace bullying and discrimination - but also racist and homophobic remarks by the MPP.

That summer, White was fired from his constituency office job and Paikin Miller joined the race for Ward 5 trustee, even though she registered a candidate address from Binbrook, a different ward.

Paikin Miller never commented to The Spectator on whether the complaint against her husband factored into her decision to join the race. But White suggested at the time that decision was not a coincidence.

I was fired in the middle of the campaign by my competitor's spouse," White previously told The Spectator following his election loss, adding he was hobbled during the campaign by a lack of income.

The human rights complaint allegations - which Miller publicly denied - were never tested in front of a tribunal because a parallel union grievance resulted in a confidential settlement in 2019.

White said he cannot comment about any past interactions covered in that settlement. But he did say the NDP has made the best decision for its members" in removing Miller from the party.

Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com