HAMILTON — Premier Dalton McGuinty of Ontario wanted to settle quietly the acrimonious complaints of a Caledonia couple trapped on the native side of barricades erected during an aboriginal occupation that almost surrounded their home, court heard Wednesday.

Homeowner David Brown, 42, along with his wife, Dana Chatwell, 45, and their son, Dax Chatwell, 18, are seeking $7 million from the Ontario Provincial Police and the province, alleging a failure to protect them or enforce the law against the protesters around their home.

During conversations between homeowner Brown and Dave Levac, member of provincial legislature and the chief Liberal government whip at the time about ending the volatile situation, Levac told him that McGuinty had said he "would love to sweep this under the rug," Brown testified.

The news in May, 2007, buoyed the embattled couple, he said.

"I told Dana that I think we are out of this situation, I really did," he said. But his mood soon changed when Levac later told him all discussions were over and the government would fight him in court.

Brown said he was a "little enraged" and then threatened the premier, court heard.

Asked by David Feliciant, the government's lawyer in the lawsuit, what the specific threat was, Brown said he could not remember. He was, however, interviewed at length by police about it.

Court heard that on another occasion an OPP officer logged a report that during a drunken rant, Brown said he would like to "take a run at McGuinty and punch that idiot out like a schoolboy" in order to make the government "sit up and take notice."

He told the OPP officer he had been at Queen's Park, the provincial legislature, recently for a meeting with his local member and while there he saw where McGuinty's office was and "took note of the premier's security detail," according to the police report from April 2008.

Brown, looking embarrassed during cross-examination Wednesday and disputed little of the Crown's notes on the incidents.

"I'm frustrated by a lot of politicians," he said. "I probably said a lot of stupid things."

He had written McGuinty, texted him, faxed him and telephoned him trying to get the province to help without any reply for years and was frustrated by the lack of action and the continued circumstances of living so close to the occupied site.

"I'm not a terrorist. I didn't want to shoot McGuinty — but I did want to go get his attention," Brown said. "I'm only human."

The testimony about the involvement of the premier is the first to bring senior politicians into the case that has so far largely focused on the turmoil of the Caledonia occupation, the OPP's response and the actions of Brown.

The occupation, that began on Feb. 28, 2006, was to protest land-claim grievances by members of the nearby Six Nations band but it grew violent and fiery after the OPP tried to eject protesters on April 20, 2006, only to be pushed back by a growing throng of natives.

After that confrontation with police and the retaking of the site, native protesters erected roadblocks on the thoroughfare leading to it, trapping the Brown-Chatwell house, alone, on the native side of the barricade. Court heard earlier that OPP officers would not breach the native's barricade, even when witnessing criminal acts.

The barricades were taken down on May 23, 2006. Six weeks later, the province bought the land from the developer and has since allowed native protesters to occupy it.