Craitor looking for council seat

Former Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor will be vying for a seat on city council. Given this news, there is now a growing chorus of people demanding Craitor give a better explanation as to why he suddenly resigned in September.

Marg Germano was one of the people who convinced Kim Craitor to run for the job of MPP. And now she’s wondering if he deserves to serve Niagara Falls City Council
given he suddenly resigned three months ago without any warning: “It’s just a complete mystery to me. But it has to be serious. Because you just don’t up and do this type of thing.”

The riding has no representative at Queen’s Park. It’s left with what’s now called a community office. That’s closed for the holidays.

The question a lot of people want answered is why three women in Craitor’s office left days before he formally resigned. They’re not talking. But word is, they’ve all gotten lawyers.”

Marg asks: “What happened? Nobody seems to know why these girls left the office. When you step down, the party takes over running the office.”

We caught up with Kim Craitor at his home Tuesday afternoon and asked him if his former staff had retained lawyers: “You’re asking me questions I don’t have any answer to.”

Weeks after his resignation, Craitor said he stepped down because he was simply exhausted. But Marg Germano and others in the city say they’re not buying the exhaustion explanation, in part because Craitor has made appearances at so many events.

Craitor said: “The events are because people ask me. I’ve turned down so many. I say I’m not an MPP. And they say we don’t care.”

Craitor says appeals from the public are the reason he’ll be running for a seat on city council.

Craitor supporter Keith Sawatsky was asked would you vote for him?: “Absolutely, without a doubt in my mind. That guy is one of the greatest politicians Ontario has ever seen. He looks after people. When he tells you he’s going to do something, he does it.”

Craitor is popular in part because he challenged his own government, and built a reputation on being transparent. But his critics say given he left months before an expected general election, that transparency has become a little clouded.