A well-known Canadian political pundit could have a date in court against a politician who, so far, has failed in his quest to push the country far to the right.

Warren Kinsella, a former Liberal candidate in North Vancouver, revealed today that he'll face a defamation claim from Maxime Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada.

Kinsella tweeted that he learned about this from a reporter.

Kinsella was a speechwriter for former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien and wrote Kicking Ass in Canadian Politics.

https://twitter.com/kinsellawarren/status/1203736192287682561

Prior to the 2019 election, Kinsella's consulting group, Daisy Group, was reportedly hired by the Conservatives to undermine public confidence in Bernier and the People's Party of Canada.

After the Globe and Mail broke the story on the eve of the election, Bernier asked Elections Canada to conduct an investigation.

Bernier is an avid Twitter user but as of this writing, he hasn't tweeted that he plans on suing Kinsella.

But if the lawsuit goes ahead, it raises the possibility of the People's Party of Canada gaining access through the court's disclosure processes to correspondence between the Daisy Group and the Conservatives.

It's also conceivable that Bernier could subpoena senior Conservatives, including Leader Andrew Scheer and former campaign manager Hamish Marshall, to testify about their past contacts with Kinsella and other staff at the Daisy Group.

"I am astounded and shocked to learn that Andrew Scheer and Hamish Marshall paid professional mud-throwers to discredit our party," Bernier said in a statement before the election. "This is an attack on the integrity of our democratic process.

"We have long suspected that many of the supposed scandals that hit us during the past months were manufactured by opponents. The Globe and Mail story proves that the constant accusations of racism, the suspicious resignations by party executives and candidates, the fake letters and emails, and many other stories, were likely arranged by Warren Kinsella for his Conservative clients."

Kinsella subsequently declared that he was proud to oppose Bernier, but wouldn't disclose the name of the client who asked him to do this.

Bernier lost his Quebec seat of Beauce by more than 6,000 votes in the election. A second candidate named Maxime Bernier, who was running for the Rhinoceros party, attracted more than 1,000 votes.

Bernier held the seat from 2006 to 2019, winning four elections as a Conservative. He barely lost the 2017 Conservative leadership race to Scheer.