See you in court.

That’s the message from Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown to Premier Kathleen Wynne after she sued him for libel.

In his first public comment since Wynne filed her statement of claim for $100,000 in damages, Brown said Tuesday that he will not back down for saying the premier was on “trial” in the Sudbury byelection case.

“It was another Liberal stunt. The fact they gave the statement to you, the media, I think, speaks to the theatrics that Wynne has engaged in,” he said.

Brown’s office learned from the Star that the 15-page statement of claim had been filed in the Ontario Superior Court on Monday afternoon.

“We all know these are diversion techniques. It was a baseless legal threat,” the PC chief said.

“The only person who should be apologizing is Kathleen Wynne for these stunts, these theatrics from her own government’s record.”

But the premier said the onus is on Brown to say sorry.

“I have said a number of times, this whole situation could be resolved with a simple apology,” said Wynne.

“If Patrick Brown just apologized for what everyone has acknowledged was an untrue statement. I’m always happy to debate the truth and so it could be brought to a very expeditious end,” she said.

“I still remain hopeful that he will apologize and that will be the end of it. It’s as simple as that. The most expeditious timeline would be for him to simply step up to a mic and say he was sorry.”

Brown is on the hot seat for comments he made during a Sept. 12 media scrum at Queen’s Park.

On the eve of Wynne testifying as a Crown witness in a Sudbury courtroom, Brown told reporters that Ontario had “a sitting premier sitting in trial” and that the premier “stands trial” in the case.

That referred to her testimony in the trial of Patricia Sorbara, her former deputy chief of staff, and Sudbury Liberal activist Gerry Lougheed.

Sorbara and Lougheed were acquitted in October after Judge Howard Borenstein dismissed the Election Act charges against them for lack of evidence.

Borenstein delivered a rare directed verdict before any defence witnesses were even called.

On Tuesday, Brown, who is a lawyer, repeatedly evaded questions on whether Wynne had been on “trial” in Sudbury.

“I made it very clear and abundantly clear that it was her closest advisor who was on trial in Sudbury,” the Tory leader said.

Wynne’s lawyers argue Brown’s comments on Sept. 12 were “false and defamatory” because the premier “was not on trial for bribery and has not been investigated by the police.”

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There were three Star journalists at the scrum that day along with reporters from CBC, Radio-Canada, The Canadian Press, the Globe and Mail, QP Briefing, Global, CP24, CTV, TFO, Queen’s Park Today, Fairchild, CHCH, and Newstalk 1010.

Before the 2014 election, Wynne launched a similar $2 million libel suit against then PC leader Tim Hudak and MPP Lisa MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) over comments they made about her alleged role in former premier Dalton McGuinty’s cancellation of gas-fired power plants in Oakville and Mississauga. That matter was settled out of court in 2015.

Legal bills for both Wynne and Brown are being covered by their respective political parties.

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