Lawyers for Premier Kathleen Wynne put Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown "on notice" Friday with a formal threat of a defamation lawsuit.
The notice of libel comes five weeks after Brown refused to apologize and retract a remark that the premier "stands trial" in the Sudbury byelection case — she doesn't.
"Accordingly, a legal action will now be commenced against you for defamation," the libel notice reads.
"They've been put on notice that a statement of claim is going to be issued, or will likely be issued, within the next six weeks." Wynne lawyer Sheldon Inkol said in an interview with QP Briefing Friday. That would mark the start of a lawsuit, he clarified.
"If they make no response at all, we have to decide if we're going to issue the claim or not. I think at this point that would be our intention."
A notice of libel is effectively a stepping stone to a lawsuit, and must be hand-delivered within six weeks of the allegedly defamatory remarks, Inkol said.
Brown, served with papers at the Omni King Edward Hotel at around noon Friday, now has until Dec. 1 to respond, Inkol said. He did not say what specifically would pacify the premier into holding off on a suit.
Brown responded Friday afternoon, framing the legal gambit as distraction device.
“The Premier is trying to deflect from news that 180 pages of emails and documents were released to the public yesterday during one her two political corruption trials. Her Liberal Government is also under fire from an <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/10/18/the-estimated-4-billion-needless-cost-of-the-fair-hydro-plan-dominates-debate-at-queens-park/">explosive report</a> on hydro from the Auditor General," Brown said in a statement.
“Make no mistake, it is political corruption that’s on trial. And the Premier is oblivious to the fact that her party is politically corrupt," he said. "Her baseless threats will be ignored."
Brown made the remark that set off the legal ping pong to reporters after question period at Queen's Park on Sept. 12.
"I hope that the premier will give us answers. We’re not getting them in the legislature. Maybe when she stands trial," he said, according to QP Briefing's recording of the scrum.
Those remarks were then broadcast by CHCH television, which serves the Hamilton area, on its 6 p.m. newscast, Blaney McMurtry lawyer Jack Siegel stated.
"The express meaning of these statements is that Premier Wynne was on trial for bribery, which was not the case," Friday's libel notice says, deeming them "defamatory."
"A further implied meaning of these statements is that Premier Wynne is unethical and was under investigation by the police for a criminal act. The express and implied meanings of your statements are false, and you knew or should have known them to be false," it reads.
Brown's initial comments came 24 hours before Wynne <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/09/13/premier-takes-the-stand-at-the-sudbury-byelection-bribery-trial/">stood up to testify</a> at the Sudbury bribery trial last month.
The Tory leader did not offer an apology or retraction then, as <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/09/13/lawsuit-threat-looms-after-brown-says-wynne-will-stand-trial/">demanded</a> in a Sept. 13 letter from Wynne's lawyers. Instead, he called the legal threat "<a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/09/14/patrick-brown-calls-premiers-lawsuit-threat-baseless-13-times-in-a-row/">baseless</a>" — 13 times in English and French during scrum the next day — and recast the story as a "sorry spectacle" that left Wynne "humiliated," words he used again on Friday.
Brown added that unwanted attention on the <a href="http://www.qpbriefing.com/2017/10/10/sudbury-bribery-trial-crown-defends-its-case-alleging-liberals-corrupt-practices-violated-the-law/">trial</a>, where Wynne's ex-deputy chief of staff and a local Liberal organizer are facing bribery charges related to the 2015 Sudbury byelection, would be "compounded" by the legal threat.
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416-212-5816 
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisAReynolds">@ChrisAReynolds</a>

Patrick Brown served with libel notice for Sudbury bribery trial comments

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