The former chief of staff to Premier Kathleen Wynne and an Ontario Liberal Party activist are now facing charges under Ontario's Elections Act.
Pat Sorbara, who led Wynne's re-election campaign, and Gerry Lougheed are charged with bribery under the act, according to the OPP. The charges were announced on Wednesday afternoon.
It's alleged Sorbara and Lougheed offered jobs to Andrew Olivier, a paraplegic who was seeking the Liberal nomination for the 2015 Sudbury by-election, to convince him to step aside for Wynne's preferred candidate, Glenn Thibeault. Olivier had run for the Liberals in the 2014 election to New Democrat Joe Cimino, who resigned a few months after the election.
Thibeault, a former New Democrat MP, went on to win the by-election and now serves in Wynne's cabinet.
Sorbara, 60, is charged under the Elections Act with two counts of bribery, while Lougheed, 62, is charged with one count. Both are to appear in court November 21.
“This has been a complex and unprecedented investigation for the OPP Anti-Rackets Branch, which has culminated in bribery charges under the Election Act of Ontario,” said OPP Commissioner J.V.N. (Vince) Hawkes. "The OPP will not comment further in order to protect the integrity of the investigation and the ongoing court processes."
After the charges were announced, opposition politicians at Queen's Park were quick to go after the Premier.
“I don’t think anybody believes that Mr. Lougheed and Ms. Sorbara offered the alleged bribe to Andrew Olivier on their own,” said NDP leader Andrea Horwath. “Can the Premier tell us, if it was not her directly, who in her office ordered these calls be made on her behalf? Now that charges are being laid, the Premier has a chance to do the right thing and to make clear her role and the role that anyone else in her office played in Sudbury in the lead up to the January 2015 byelection.”
