TORONTO — Ontario’s Opposition leader plans to ignore a libel notice from Premier Kathleen Wynne, prolonging a legal spat between the two political rivals months away from a provincial election.
Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown suggested in a statement Monday that Wynne’s threat is merely a “cynical attempt” to distract the public from Liberal scandals.
“Baseless attempts to silence Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition will be ignored, full stop,” Brown wrote.
Wynne took another step toward a defamation lawsuit against Brown last week after he refused to retract comments suggesting she is personally on trial.
Her lawyer first demanded in a letter last month that Brown withdraw comments he made a day before the premier testified as a witness at a trial in Sudbury, Ont., 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.”