Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is threatening legal action against Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, unless Brown retracts his statement that it is Kathleen Wynne who is on trial in the Elections Act trial in Sudbury this week.
Brown is the second PC member to make that insinuation in the past couple of days; a PC backbencher apologized after Wynne’s lawyers threatened legal action against him.
The fact is, Wynne is not on trial, nor has she been charged with anything.
We’ve come to expect a heavy dose of hyperbole in our politics these days, but unfounded accusations of illegality are becoming much too frequent.
We get the fact that Wynne is unpopular with many voters, but the time to deal with that is at the ballot box, not by smearing an elected official’s character with false accusations.
What’s worse, Brown’s accusations are not only untrue, but deeply hypocritical.
Brown himself has been accused of the same kind of political interference in the nomination process within his own party in a number of ridings.
No charges have been laid, not yet anyway, but this is a classic example of do as I say, not as I do.
It’s become pretty clear that expecting dignity and class from our politicians is just too much to ask.
Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News.