Glenn Thibeault denies OPP allegations he was offered inducement to run in Sudbury byelection
Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault is strongly denying OPP allegations he was offered a plum post to jump from the federal NDP to the provincial Liberals to run in last year’s Sudbury byelection.

TheStar.com
Nov. 2, 2016
Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson

Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault is strongly denying OPP allegations he was offered a plum post to jump from the federal NDP to the provincial Liberals to run in last year’s Sudbury byelection.

In the filing of Elections Act bribery charges Tuesday against Liberal re-election campaign chief Patricia Sorbara and Sudbury power broker Gerry Lougheed, Ontario Provincial Police allege an inducement was proffered to Thibeault.

“Absolutely not,” the minister, who is not facing charges, told reporters at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.

“I don’t know what the allegation relates to. I’m confused by it. This was my own decision to leave federal politics and to get into provincial politics,” he said.

“It was something that I thought long and hard about and talked with my family and friends. I was very disenfranchised with where I was at in federal politics and was looking to move on.”

Thibeault, who spoke with OPP detectives in Toronto last June, said he is prepared to testify in defence of both Lougheed and Sorbara.

She resigned Tuesday in the wake of the charges but will get party help with her legal bills along with a “fair and generous” severance, said Liberal party president Vince Borg.

While he admitted speaking with Sorbara and Lougheed before defecting from the federal New Democrats to the provincial Liberals, Thibeault said they made no offers of anything beyond guaranteeing he would be the party’s nominee in the Feb. 5, 2015 byelection.

“I was under the impression that I had to actually show what I could do here and go from there. There was never any implied cabinet offer. There was nothing like that,” added Thibeault, who was elevated to Wynne’s cabinet last June.

“The premier and I had a conversation about roles within government. I said I’m looking forward to being part of the government and demonstrating the skill set that I have.”

The OPP alleged that Sorbara did “directly or indirectly give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office of employment to induce a person, to wit, Glenn Thibeault, to become a candidate contrary to” provincial law.

Thibeault’s lawyer, Ian Smith, said the police claims about his client’s motives are “frankly absurd.”

“Mr. Thibeault spent years as an MP in opposition, faithfully serving the people of Sudbury. His decision to leave that position in the hopes that he could win the byelection and join Premier (Kathleen) Wynne’s governing Liberals was motivated by nothing other than a desire to serve the constituents of Sudbury more effectively,” said Smith.

Sorbara, 60, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff until moving to run the 2018 Liberal campaign last month, is charged with two counts of bribery. Lougheed, 62, a Sudbury funeral homeowner, is charged with one count of bribery.

Their first court date is set for Nov. 21 in Sudbury.

Last April, more serious criminal counts of bribery against Lougheed were stayed.

Sorbara was never charged under the Criminal Code.

Elections Act charges are provincial offences and are a lower, non-criminal category of violations, where penalties range from fines of up to $25,000 and maximum jail sentences of two years less a day.

Both Sorbara and Lougheed have denied any wrongdoing.

The charges stem from a campaign in which businessman Andrew Olivier — the Liberal candidate in the June 2014 provincial election and one of only two Grits to lose seats held by the Liberals that year — claimed Sorbara and Lougheed offered him jobs to drop out of the nomination race to clear the way for Thibeault.

Olivier, who declined to comment Wednesday, had hoped to run again for the Liberals in the byelection triggered by the sudden resignation of New Democrat MPP Joe Cimino.

But Wynne wanted Thibeault. Olivier ended up running as an independent and finishing third.

The OPP began investigating the alleged violations after Olivier, who is quadriplegic and records conversations because he cannot take notes, made public his conversations with Sorbara and Lougheed on Facebook.

Progressive Conservatives stormed out of question period Wednesday after MPP Steve Clark was ejected for repeatedly asking Thibeault if he was offered any inducements to leave federal politics.

Speaker Dave Levac ruled the questions unparliamentary, citing the legislature’s standing orders.

“What are you hiding? Answer the question,” Clark shouted at Thibeault.

As he was escorted out by the sergeant at arms, Clark was joined by PC fellow Tory MPPs except House Leader Jim Wilson, who stayed in his seat in case a unanimous consent motion arose.

Deputy NDP leader Jagmeet Singh asked Elections Ontario to investigate whether Thibeault was offered or accepted an inducement to run for the Liberals and said opposition parties need “wide latitude” in asking questions.

Attorney General Yasir Naqvi said the case should be tried in the courts, not in the legislature.