Premier Kathleen Wynne suing Opposition leader for defamation

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has followed through with a threat to sue Progressive Conservative Opposition leader Patrick Brown for defamation.

The action stems from comments Brown made back in September, before Wynne testified as a witness at a trial in Sudbury, Ont. involving two provincial Liberals.

Brown 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.”

The premier was not on trial and had waived parliamentary privilege in order to testify as a witness.

Brown refused to apologize for the remarks and issued a statement in October calling Wynne’s threats of legal action baseless. “No one wants to see the Premier of our province debased or humiliated. Regrettably Kathleen Wynne compounded this with baseless legal threats against me. Her baseless threats will be ignored,” he said.

Wynne’s spokeswoman said a statement of claim was filed in court Monday. “We continue to remain hopeful that this issue can be resolved with an apology from Patrick Brown for his defamatory remarks. It should be that simple. However, if he continues to refuse to apologize we will have the ability to continue legal action,” Jennifer Beaudry wrote.

Brown has suggested the previous legal threat was an attempt to distract the public from Liberal scandals. He said he would ignore Wynne’s attempts “to silence Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.”