Michael Mantha: ‘My entire focus is on the riding and the constituency’

Michael Mantha is back in the swing of things, hitting the road for a week’s worth of meetings with constituents across his longtime riding of Algoma—Manitoulin.

He is no longer a member of Ontario’s NDP caucus — booted after 12 years over allegations of workplace misconduct, which remain under investigation by a third party — but he says he is rejuvenated and anxious to get back to work for the people he now represents as an Independent MPP.

“This has given me the ability to focus a lot more on Algoma—Manitoulin,” he said during a recent interview at his Elliot Lake office.

After hiring back three long-time staffers, Mantha and his team got right to work retrieving constituency files. But the longtime politician said he is also busy working on himself, including dealing with some personal issues from his past.

“Having to deal with emotional scars will make me a better person today,” he said, when asked what lessons he has learned over the past few months.

Mantha talked about how he and his four brothers lost their mother in 2017, and about his separation from his wife a year earlier. He now admits that both events were difficult to deal with, on top of his grueling schedule as an Opposition politician.

Neither he nor his former party will discuss the allegations in order to protect the complainant's privacy. But he did say he has made some important changes.

“What I’ve found in this situation is asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength,” he said. “It will be beneficial for myself, my staff, my friends, my sons.”

He said when responding to constituents’ needs, he never really thought about how he should deal with his own emotional scars.

“As an MPP I’ve always been able to help others,” he said. “It’s really hard when you have to help yourself and sometimes asking for that help is very beneficial and has really taken a huge amount of weight off my shoulders.”

For the moment, he said his only focus is on being the best Independent MPP he can. When asked whether he would rejoin the NDP if invited, or become a candidate for another party, Mantha said he is not considering any alternatives.

“What I’m considering at this point in time is being the MPP for Algoma—Manitoulin, doing what I need to do, preparing my team because I have the team I have here in responding to the constituency,” he said. “My entire focus is on the riding and the constituency.”

Mantha said he will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation, and that he has no idea when it will conclude. In the meantime, his tour this week includes stops in Goulais River, Searchmont, Garden River First Nation, Batchewana First Nation and Echo Bay.

In a recent interview with The Trillium, a sister site of this publication, Mantha reiterated his intention to stay in politics.

“We are all served with destinies in our lives and we're all faced with challenges,” he said. “And this is one which has demonstrated to me that there is more improvement that I can do as an individual…I will grow. I will become a better person, a better father, [and] a better community member.”

While he was still an NDP MPP, Mantha took a "personal leave" at the behest of new leader Marit Stiles, from mid-February until the end of March. The allegation against Mantha was made in December and Stiles learned about it a few days before becoming leader in early February.

Stiles announced in a statement on April 1, two days after Mantha’s unexplained personal leave was reported by The Trillium, that she had removed him from the NDP caucus.

The first day Mantha took his seat in the legislature in 2023 was as an Independent on April 6 to hear the NDP's newly-elected MPP Sarah Jama's inaugural speech. He has regularly attended legislative proceedings ever since.