‘Trumpian rhetoric:’ Marit Stiles slammed after suggesting Doug Ford could end up in prison

The Ontario PC Party slammed NDP Leader Marit Stiles Tuesday for her suggestion that Premier Doug Ford could end up in prison.

The Ontario PC caucus took aim at Opposition leader Marit Stiles Tuesday after she said Premier Doug Ford could end up “in prison” if there were a public inquiry into the Greenbelt.

“Speaker, yesterday we saw the Leader of the Opposition invoke dangerous American-style, Trumpian rhetoric that quite frankly has no place in this legislature,” Government House Leader Steve Clark said during Question Period after Stiles asked a question about OSAP.

“That type of rhetoric lowers the tone in this house. It has no place in this legislature, our province or our country.”

Energy Minister Stephen Lecce chimed in saying “shameful” as Clark spoke.

Clark added that Ford is focused on the economy and on the “generational threat that we have with the Americans, on the tariffs.”

Responding to Clark, Stiles shot back that his comment was “pretty rich, coming from a government that is under RCMP criminal investigation.”

On Monday, Stiles said that if she becomes premier, she would call a public inquiry into the Greenbelt that could expose “dirty deals” and result in Ford ending up “in prison.”

The RCMP is currently investigating the Ford government’s decision to open up land in the Greenbelt to developers, but no charges have been laid and it’s not clear who the investigation touches.

Asked by reporters Monday whether she felt her comment was appropriate given it echoes the “lock her up” comments Donald Trump repeatedly hurled at Hillary Clinton, Stiles reiterated she feels the government is “corrupt” and is involved in “dirty deals.”

While the PCs expressed outrage at Stiles in the house Tuesday, her comment echoes one made by Ford himself back in 2018 when he suggested that then-premier Kathleen Wynne and other Liberals might be in jail if they had behaved in the private sector as they had in government.

The old press release was viewable online Monday night, but redirected to the PC Party’s homepage by Tuesday morning. At the time, Wynne responded by calling Ford a “bully” and comparing him to Trump as well.