Kathleen Wynne accuses Doug Ford of acting like Donald Trump

Seven weeks ahead of Ontario’s provincial election, Premier Kathleen Wynne repeatedly compared PC leader Doug Ford to U.S. President Donald Trump.

The premier made the comments at an announcement about hospital wait times at Toronto’s Sunnybrook hospital Wednesday morning.

“Doug Ford sounds like Donald Trump, and that’s because he is like Donald Trump,” Wynne said. “He believes in (an) ugly, vicious … brand of politics that trafficks in smears and lies. He’ll say anything about anyone at any time.”

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The comments came a day after Ford announced that if the PCs are elected in June, he would bring in independent auditors to probe spending.

“If Kathleen Wynne tried to pull these kinds of shady tricks in private life, then there would be a few more Liberals joining David Livingston in jail,” Ford stated in a media release.

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Livingston, a top aide to former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, was sentenced four months in jail for his role in the destruction of computer data related to the province’s gas plants scandal.

“Ontario deserves answers about how big Kathleen Wynne’s mess really is,” Ford added.

On Wednesday, Wynne accused PC leader Ford of “all but chant(ing) ‘lock her up’,” the phrase used by Trump supporters in reference to Hillary Clinton.

“It’s not about me. I’ve got a pretty thick skin and I’ll take anything that he dishes out,” she said.

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“I want people to notice what’s going on here,” Wynne said Wednesday. “Doug Ford stands for nothing other than Doug Ford, and just like Donald Trump, there’s only one way to deal with this kind of behaviour. You have to stand up to him, and you have to name the behaviour for what it is, because that is how you deal with a bully.”

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Doug Ford responded to the premier’s comments during a campaign stop at a manufacturing facility in Cobourg.

“Kathleen Wynne, she can fight an election in another country, I’m focusing on the people of Ontario. I’m focusing on jobs in Ontario, ” he said.

Earlier in the day, PC MPP Lisa MacLeod called Wynne’s comments a desperate move.

“The campaign hasn’t even started yet and Kathleen Wynne is already desperately trying to scare people with negative attacks,” she said. “The truth is, Kathleen Wynne has taken so much from the people of Ontario that her only hope is to make this campaign about anything other than her record.”

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Ontario’s election is expected to be held on June 7.

With files from Tina Trigiani