Defence asks judge to dismiss Crown’s case in byelection bribery trial

SUDBURY, ONT. • The defence in the byelection bribery trial announced Wednesday it will ask for a directed verdict for Ontario Liberal operatives Pat Sorbara and Gerry Lougheed — essentially asking judge H.J. Borenstein to examine the Crown’s case for any evidence of guilt and, if he finds none, to dismiss the charges without hearing defence witnesses.

The day began with prosecutor Rick Visca’s request to introduce an alleged inconsistency between Ontario Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault’s testimony in court on Tuesday and his previous statements to the OPP and Elections Ontario investigators. When Borenstein ruled against the request, the Crown rested its case and Thibeault was dismissed.

“I was happy to tell my side of the story and be as transparent as possible,” Thibeault told reporters.

The Ontario Liberal party lost Sudbury in the 2014 general election for the first time in decades. When the winner, New Democrat Joe Cimino, unexpectedly resigned mere months later, the Liberals were determined to win it back.

Sorbara, formerly Premier Kathleen Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, is accused of offering jobs to two of Thibeault’s staffers in Ottawa, where he had served federally as Sudbury’s NDP MP, as an inducement to cross the floor and enter provincial politics. In a separate charge, Sorbara and Lougheed, a longtime Liberal organizer and fundraiser in Sudbury, are charged with offering Andrew Olivier, the party’s 2014 candidate, various inducements to abandon his bid for the nomination in the 2015 byelection and get behind Thibeault. They are charged under the Ontario Elections Act.

The defence claims no “commitments” were made to Thibeault beyond providing him a well-funded and well-staffed byelection campaign. Anything offered to Olivier, they contend, was simply an effort to keep him happy within the Liberal fold. Despite incriminating tape-recorded conversations between Olivier and Sorbara and Lougheed, the Crown has struggled to present any proof of more sinister intent.

The court will hear arguments for and against dismissal on Oct. 10. Defence lawyer Michael Lacy, for Lougheed, and Brian Greenspan, for Sorbara, declined comment.