Sexual harassment allegation against TVO host Steve Paikin ‘not substantiated,’ external probe finds

TV Ontario says an external investigation has cleared veteran broadcaster Steve Paikin of sexual harassment allegations made by former Toronto mayoral candidate Sarah Thomson.

Paikin remained on the job as host of TVO’s The Agenda after the allegation came to light in February. He said there wasn’t “a shred of truth” to Thomson’s claim that he propositioned her during a lunch meeting in 2010.

READ MORE: TVO’s Steve Paikin says sexual harassment allegation is ‘complete fiction’

TVO chief executive officer Lisa de Wilde said on Friday that the third-party investigator found the allegations were “not substantiated” and Paikin did not violate the station’s policies.

“As such, the investigation is now closed. TVO is proud of the work of Steve Paikin, who has been at the centre of TVO’s journalism for more than 25 years,” she said in a statement.

READ MORE: TVO host Steve Paikin faces sexual harassment allegations from Sarah Thomson

The station said 21 people were interviewed by a third-party investigator over the course of an 11-week probe into the matter. The report stated that Thomson participated in the investigation and was interviewed in person twice.

Paikin said he was relieved to read the report and thanked his supporters. Thomson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Paikin said he was sent an email containing the allegations from Thomson and forwarded it to his superiors at TVO.

Thomson, the publisher of the Women’s Post, posted an article online the day before saying an unnamed TV host asked if he could sleep with her during a lunch in 2010 while she was running for mayor.

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“My assistant and I met him at Grano’s on Yonge Street, and the three of us ordered our lunch. Not five minutes into the lunch the host asked me if I would sleep with him,” Thomson wrote.

“My assistant almost spit his drink all over the table. I politely told the host that I loved my husband and would never do that.”

The article called for the host to step down from his job.

The investigation also dealt with an allegation that Paikin made a sexual advance towards Thomson sometime in 2012.

In that incident, the investigator also found that “the evidence does not support a finding that Paikin made inappropriate comments or engaged in inappropriate conduct.”

Paikin is a journalist and began working for TVO in 1992. He has hosted a number of shows for the station including Between the Lines, Fourth Reading and Studio 2. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2013.

Thomson ran for mayor in 2010 and 2014 and later withdrew from both contests. She was nominated for the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for the riding of Trinity-Spadina in 2011 but placed second.

Following her withdrawal from the 2014 mayoral election, she registered to run as councillor for Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina but placed third to winner Joe Cressy.

-With files from David Shum