Ontario Liberal campaign co-chair David Herle (left) takes part in a panel discussion during the Canadian Climate Forum in Ottawa on Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. iPolitics/Matthew Usherwood

Liberal campaign co-chair apologizes after calling Ford a “dick”

The war of words between Doug Ford and Kathleen Wynne reached new lows Friday.

Veteran Liberal strategist and the provincial party’s campaign co-chair David Herle went on live TV Friday to lay into Ford.

“I think people think Doug Ford’s a bit of a dick to be honest,” he told CP24.

The comment was made at the 12:34 mark in the panel, it comes just days after Wynne said she expected the lead up to the June election to be “vicious.”

READ MORE: Wynne calls Ford Ontario’s Trump

Herle was part of a strategists panel along with Ford’s Campaign Director Michael Diamond and the NDP’s Campaign Director Michael Balagus.

He made the comment in response to a question about whether Ford was more trusted or liked than his late brother Rob Ford.

The former Toronto mayor died in 2016.

“Doug Ford is not Rob Ford. Rob Ford was a good politician. People liked Rob Ford, he was a popular guy, he won the mayoralty,” Herle said.

Opinion polling continually shows that Wynne has lower favourability ratings than Ford.

A poll released Friday by Forum Research said if the election was held on Friday the Progressive Conservatives would win a “super-majority.” It says the Tories would win a majority government with 94 seats. The NDP would serve as official opposition with 23 seats, while the Liberals would scrape up seven seats, just shy of official party status. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3%, 19 times out of 20

According to the National Post, Wynne told reporters in Halifax that Herle’s comments were “not appropriate.” She said Herle should apologize but won’t have to step down.

Shortly after, Herle released a statement that apologized for the comments but not before taking more shots at Ford by laying out some of the more controversial parts of his record.

READ MORE: Ford accuses Liberals of ‘lying’ about comments he previously defended

“Doug Ford has a long history of using derogatory and insulting terms to refer to a wide range of people with whom he disagrees – including female journalists, parents of autistic children and many others. No matter how commonplace such conduct might be for Mr. Ford, it is no justification to follow suit, read Herle’s emailed statement.

“There is an important difference between naming behaviours and name calling. Today, I used a term in reference to Mr. Ford that was inappropriate and I regret it. I withdraw that remark and apologize for its use without qualification.”

In a transcript released by the Progressive Conservative party, Ford accused the Liberals of more attempts to “distract from [Wynne’s] record.”

“I always say that I have thick skin,” he said. “But what bothers me the most is that [Herle] is insulting the people of Ontario that want to move this province forward. He is insulting my supporters which consist of PC, Liberal and NDP supporters.”

Ford also pledged to “take the high road” during the campaign. Voters go to the polls on June 7.

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