Wynne will testify at byelection bribery trial
Premier decides to waive parliamentary privilege and ‘go along with the process’
Premier Kathleen Wynne will waive parliamentary privilege and testify in the Sudbury byelection bribery trial that begins in six weeks.
Wynne’s former deputy chief of staff, Patricia Sorbara, and Liberal activist Gerry Lougheed are accused of Elections Act violations stemming from a February 2015 byelection.
In a stunning development that breaks with precedent, the premier said Tuesday that she has been asked to testify and will do so.
“I could (claim parliamentary privilege) but I’m not. I will testify and I will go along with the process and do what I can to clarify, as I have in the legislature many, many times,” Wynne told reporters in Toronto.
“I’ve been very clear that I was going to work with the process and I’ve done that and I will continue to do that,” she said.
The premier will be called by Crown prosecutor Vern Brewer, who declined to comment.
Wynne insisted that she did not believe anything untoward happened in the run-up to the Sudbury byelection and emphasized that Sorbara would be welcomed back into the Liberal fold if she is exonerated.
“I have the deepest of respect for Pat Sorbara and I look forward to the opportunity to work with her again,” the premier said.
Sorbara and Lougheed are accused of offering a defeated former Liberal candidate, Andrew Olivier, jobs or political appointments to drop out of the party’s nomination race to make way for Wynne’s preferred candidate, Glenn Thibeault.
Thibeault, a former New Democrat MP, won the byelection for the provincial Liberals and has been energy minister for the past 13 months in Wynne’s cabinet. Olivier, who ran as an independent, finished third.
The Sudbury mortgage broker recorded conversations with both Sorbara and Lougheed and made them public on Facebook. A quadriplegic, Olivier tapes important calls for note-taking purposes. But a call with Wynne was not recorded because he was in an elevator at the time.
The case will be heard starting Sept. 7 in Sudbury, four days before a separate criminal trial for two other Liberals involving allegations of deleted documents in the gas-plants scandal. Both proceedings are slated to continue into October.
Wynne’s press secretary, Jennifer Beaudry, noted all MPPs are eligible to claim parliamentary privilege, which “exempts a member from the normal obligation to attend court if summoned as a witness from 40 days before a session of the House begins until 40 days after it ends.
“The premier has said, all along, that she would be open and transparent throughout this process, and that is exactly what she will continue to do,” said Beaudry.
Wynne’s decision to testify for the Crown did not come as a surprise to the defence.
“We had already been advised by the Crown they anticipated parlia- mentary immunity would be waived,” said Sorbara lawyer Brian Greenspan of Toronto.
No date has been set for Wynne’s testimony. Lawyers for Sorbara and Lougheed, a prominent Sudbury funeral home owner, are awaiting a final witness list.
“We look forward to all of the facts fully and completely coming to the trial,” said Greenspan.
“We believe the facts will dictate that Pat Sorbara was not involved in any misconduct.”
Sorbara was a key architect of Wynne’s 2014 majority election victory and one of her most trusted advisers.
Toronto lawyer Michael Lacy, who is representing Lougheed, has also insisted his client has done nothing wrong.
Elections Act charges fall within a lower, non-criminal category of violations, known as provincial offences. Penalties include fines of up to $25,000 and maximum jail sentences of two years less a day.
Last year, prosecutors withdrew more serious Criminal Code charges against Lougheed. Sorbara was never charged criminally.
She stepped down as chief executive and director of the 2018 Liberal re-election campaign when the Elections Act charges were laid last fall.
Progressive Conservative Deputy Leader Steve Clark, who has been calling for Wynne to take the stand, said “this is a sad day for Ontario.”
“Ontarians are tired of Liberal scandals and a premier who only acts in her own self-interest,” said Clark.
“After 14 years of scandals, Ontarians deserve a government that doesn’t only answer questions on their day in court.”
NDP house leader Gilles Bisson said Ontarians are “frustrated that the Wynne government’s time and energy is being spent defending its actions in court.
“People need a government that’s focused on what matter to us: our hydro bills; hospitals and seniors care homes; and our children’s classrooms. Instead, the Liberal government is mired in scandal and selfdefence, focused on its party and its friends.”