The Hamilton Spectator

Wynne moves closer to suing Brown

Tory leader refuses to back down, saying ‘Make no mistake, it is political corruption that’s on trial’

- ALLISON JONES

TORONTO — Ontario’s premier took another step toward a defamation lawsuit against the province’s Opposition leader Friday after he refused to retract comments suggesting she is personally on trial.

Kathleen Wynne’s lawyer demanded in a letter last month that Progressiv­e Conservati­ve Leader Patrick Brown withdraw comments he made a day before the premier testified as a witness at a trial in Sudbury involving two provincial Liberals facing Election Act bribery charges.

Brown had told reporters he hoped Wynne would give answers about the scandal “maybe when she stands trial” and went on to describe her as a “sitting premier, sitting in trial.”

After receiving the lawyer’s letter, Brown said he would “ignore her baseless legal threat.” When asked to explain why, he said it was a “sad day for Ontario” to see the premier “debased” and “humiliated” by testifying in court.

Wynne’s lawyers followed up Friday with another letter to Brown saying it constitute­s a notice of libel.

Brown’s comments about the premier being debased and humiliated are another defamation, her lawyers wrote.

“Our letter of September 13, 2017 was intended to provide you with an opportunit­y to partially mitigate the damage you have done with a retraction, an apology, and an undertakin­g to refrain from making any further defamatory statements about Premier Wynne,” Jack Siegel and Sheldon Inkol wrote.

“Not only did you refuse to make a retraction or to apologize, you chose to compound the problem by making further defamatory statements. Accordingl­y, a legal action will now be commenced against you for defamation.”

Brown repeated the comments about the premier being debased and humiliated Friday.

He suggested the notice was a way for the premier to distract the public from an ongoing trial involving two staffers of former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, and a critical auditor general report this week on the Liberal government’s plan to cut hydro bills.

“Make no mistake, it is political corruption that’s on trial,” Brown wrote. “And the premier is oblivious to the fact that her party is politicall­y corrupt.”

Brown suggested Wynne should be the one to apologize, for “years of waste mismanagem­ent and political corruption in this province.”

“We as a province need to put this ugly chapter behind us and move on,” Brown wrote.

Wynne’s lawyers said Brown’s status as leader of the Progressiv­e Conservati­ves increased the likelihood that his statements would be repeated by others, therefore “increasing the potential harm to the premier’s reputation.”

The “stubborn refusal” to retract the comments has put Brown on the hook for potential aggravated and punitive damages, they wrote in the libel notice.

 ?? FRANCIS VACHON, THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? Premier Kathleen Wynne is taking another step toward a defamation lawsuit against PC Leader Patrick Brown.
FRANCIS VACHON, THE CANADIAN PRESS Premier Kathleen Wynne is taking another step toward a defamation lawsuit against PC Leader Patrick Brown.

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