Like Dorothy in *Wizard of Oz*, told to “pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” Ontario voters & media have little or no access to the leader of the Conservative party during this election.

It was Jan. 29, I believe, the very first day of the current provincial election campaign. The London Police Service hosted an appreciation and awards banquet. And wasn’t it convenient for the premier that he was invited to speak to what Mr. Ford considered his peeps.

I guess he decided to take the opportunity to slam federal lawmakers and judges for being soft on criminals such as home invaders. And according to the Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park Bureau, Ford went way off script.

“God forbid they kill an innocent person,” Ford mused in front of a thousand police personnel and guests at the banquet, adding that he’d prefer that judges simply send home invaders found guilty of murder to the electric chair. (more…)

In Canada’s court system what Trump said would be considered contempt and prosecutable.

Outside his residence in Florida, several weeks ago, a former United States president made sure the cameras were running, raised his fist in the air and then verbally slammed Judge Arthur Engoron. The justice of the Supreme Court of New York had just handed down his ruling in the civil business-fraud trial against Donald Trump. The former president reacted.

“A crooked New York State judge has just ruled that I have to pay a fine of $355 million for having built a perfect company,” Trump said, and he went on to call New York Attorney General Letitia James, who initiated the case, “totally corrupt.”

If any politician, no, make that if any individual had said that in Canada, she or he would have been charged with contempt. (more…)

Ted Barris

author | journalist

Posts with the contempt tag

Pay more attention to the man behind the curtain

“Like-minded” equals “contempt”