Wynne insists she’s not ducking OPP in Sudbury investigation

Premier Kathleen Wynne insists she is not dodging OPP detectives investigating the Sudbury byelection scandal.

“We’re arranging an interview,” the premier said Tuesday, five weeks after Ontario Provincial Police revealed they want to question her.

“The date just hasn’t been set yet. There’s lots happening in all of our lives and I can’t tell you about the timing of the OPP,” said Wynne.

“What I know is that at some point we’ll have that meeting,” she said at a media event at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Asked if she’s avoiding the OPP, Wynne said: “No, I’m not. I’m absolutely not. We will have that meeting. I’ve been clear about that.” The OPP wants to question Wynne and her deputy chief of staff, Pat Sorbara, about allegations of bribery during last month’s byelection.

Police allege Sorbara and Sudbury Liberal organizer Gerry Lougheed illegally offered former Grit candidate Andrew Olivier a job to step aside so Glenn Thibeault, then the riding’s NDP MP, could defect and run.

Thibeault won the Feb. 5 byelection and Olivier, running as an independent, finished third.

Sorbara and Lougheed, the chair of Sudbury’s police services board, have denied any wrongdoing and remain at their posts.

The OPP allegations have not been proven in court and no charges have been laid.

Progressive Conservative MPP John Yakabuski noted during question period Tuesday that Wynne found time to answer questions from Elections Ontario’s chief electoral officer Greg Essensa for a separate probe of the Sudbury controversy.

Both the Conservatives and the New Democrats want Wynne to ask Sorbara and Lougheed to step aside until the investigation is complete.