Sudbury’s ‘prince’ faces jail
Liberal power broker Gerry Lougheed Jr. wields big stick in his community
In Sudbury, nothing conveys charity, money, and influence like the name of Liberal power broker Gerry Lougheed Jr.
But to the rest of Ontario, Lougheed is the political kingmaker who might have stepped over the line — and risks jail if convicted — in last winter’s alleged byelection bribery scandal.
“Was there a Greek god, Icarus, who flew too close to the sun?” says Floyd Laughren, a former Sudburyarea New Democrat MPP and finance minister. A man infused with community spirit by his mother and funeral director father who founded a local business empire, Lougheed has taken a step back while dealing with two criminal charges that rocked Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government this fall. Lougheed faces one count of unlawfully influencing or negotiating appointments and another of counselling an offence not committed.
If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to five years for one offence and seven years for the other.
“There is a cloud of suspicion hang- ing over his head,” says Toronto lawyer Michael Lacy, who will represent Lougheed during a first court appearance Wednesday in Sudbury. Lougheed plans to plead not guilty when the time comes to enter a plea, Lacy said. Lougheed declined to comment. For years, the 61-year-old has lent considerable sway to health care, cancer care and other fundraising efforts in Sudbury, spearheading millions upon millions of dollars in donations. A new wing of the city’s hospital is called the Lougheed Tower.
“He helps people and he’s very proud of the fact,” says retired Sudbury Liberal MPP and cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci, a long-time friend who reached out to Lougheed for fundraising help in his run for Queen’s Park about 20 years ago.
“He wasn’t always a member of the Liberal party,” Bartolucci adds in a nod to Lougheed’s previous Progressive Conservative leanings.
By day, Lougheed is a funeral home owner and director, and has a flower business. He has enjoyed federal and provincial appointments along with the prestigious Order of Ontario in 2010.
“He’s the unofficial prince of Sudbury . . . when the Lougheed name is attached to a charity or event, it gives credibility like no other,” says Brian MacLeod, former managing editor of the Sudbury Star.
That clout extends to politics, he adds.
“If you’re a Liberal in Sudbury you’d better have Gerry on your side. And if you don’t, you’re not going to be a successful Liberal in Sudbury.”
An Ontario Provincial Police probe began last December after Andrew Olivier, a Liberal candidate in the 2014 provincial election who records conversations instead of taking notes, released audio tapes and alleged Lougheed and Patricia Sorbara, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, offered him jobs or political appointments to withdraw and rally behind defecting NDP MPP Glenn Thibeault, who eventually won the riding for Wynne.