The legal team representing Kathleen Wynne is demanding\u00a0an apology from Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown over an allegedly “defamatory” statement about the premier’s participation in the Sudbury byelection scandal trial.<\/p>\n
While speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Brown was asked by CBC Toronto’s Mike\u00a0Crawley\u00a0why he did not specifically ask about the bribery scandal during question period.<\/p>\n
“I hope that the premier will give us answers, we’re not getting them in the legislature, maybe when she stands trial,” Brown responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a letter addressed to Brown obtained by CBC Toronto, Wynne’s lawyer Jack B. Siegel took issue with Brown’s use of the phrase “when she stands trial.”<\/p>\n
“Contrary to your statement, Premier Wynne is not standing trial. Your statement is false and misleading and appears to have been made with the intention to harm the reputation of Ms. Wynne,” Siegel wrote, adding that Wynne is not subject to any charges in the trial.<\/p>\n
In the letter, Siegel makes three demands that Brown must fulfill by 5 p.m. Thursday. They include:<\/p>\n
If the demands are not met, Siegel says Wynne will take “whatever steps are necessary and appropriate to vindicate her reputation and to enforce her legal rights to the full extent of the law.”<\/p>\n
When asked about the\u00a0demands during an interview with CBC Radio’s\u00a0Ontario Today<\/em>, Brown did not retract or apologize for his choice of wording.\u00a0He instead called\u00a0the letter a ploy to distract the public from the Sudbury byelection and gas plants trials now underway.<\/p>\n