Print

The tortured former Newmarket councillor, Maddie Di Muccio, has thrown in the towel. She no longer wants to be a politician. She believes it would mean spending time with self-serving liars and hypocrites.

We are, of course, still waiting for the judgement in the Di Muccio v Taylor defamation case but it seems to me that Di Muccio has already written off any chance of winning. The trial finished on 3 May 2017 - almost three months ago.

I pity the poor old judge when he finally summons up the energy to deliver his judgement. Without a shadow of a doubt, he will dismiss Di Muccio's absurdly contrived claim for $5,000 in damages for hurt feelings and reputational damage.

As soon as M'lud puts down his quill pen he will instantly become the prime target for Di Muccio's undiluted full-strength vitriol.

But I am left wondering if I, perhaps, played a small part in Maddie's implosion.

In her blog, posted on 9 May, she writes without a trace of irony:

"Those who make a habit to spread misinformation about others via mistruths, innuendo and gossip are genuinely dangerous. We must always, and at all costs, call these people out."

As it happens, on 18 January 2017, Maddie was hyper-active on Twitter, telling the world she liked a tweet claiming I was a paedophile.

I don't mind the rough and tumble of politics but this crossed a line.

On 22 January 2017, I wrote to the Leader of the PC Party of Ontario, Patrick Brown, and to the President of the Newmarket-Aurora PC Riding Association, Derek Murray, asking them to take whatever steps they considered appropriate to ensure Di Muccio's tweets linking me to paedophilia were taken down and that she apologise in writing to me.

On 23 January 2017, the tweets came down and on 25 January 2017 she announced she was pulling out of the race to become the PC candidate for Newmarket-Aurora.

Cause and effect? Who knows?

Who cares?

But I am happy for her sake that she has decided the steaming, bubbling cauldron of elective politics is not for her. For the reasons she gives in her blog, she will be happier and more content spending time with her family.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.