SUDBURY, Ont. – An Election Act bribery case involving two Ontario Liberals has been adjourned to next month as the Crown attorney’s future on the case appears to be up in the air.
Vern Brewer, the federal prosecutor on the case, said last month outside court in Sudbury that Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault “sought certain benefits” to run for the provincial Liberals.
Thibeault vehemently denied the allegation and noted he hadn’t been charged with anything. His lawyer had said Brewer sullied his client’s reputation and Thibeault was considering his legal options.
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The defence lawyers for the two Liberals charged in the case say Thibeault’s lawyer has been corresponding with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada about Brewer’s remarks.
“Those comments were brought into question in terms of their propriety and the request in the correspondence was made with respect to the future of Mr. Brewer and the PPSC conducting this matter,” lawyer Brian Greenspan said Wednesday outside court.
“It’s our understanding at this stage that there may well be further exchange of correspondence that will take place and we want to be able to understand the position they’re taking and evaluate what our position will be in terms of whether or not Mr. Brewer and/or the Public Prosecution Service of Canada should continue to prosecute this matter. That’s still up in the air.”
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The issue needs to be resolved, said lawyer Michael Lacy.
“One of the cornerstones of a prosecution is an independent and objective prosecutor,” he said outside court.
The charges against the two provincial Liberals, including Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne‘s former deputy chief of staff, stem from allegations they offered a would-be candidate a job or appointment to get him to step aside in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury for Thibeault, who was the premier’s preferred candidate.
Thibeault was then the New Democrat MP for Sudbury. He ultimately won the byelection for the provincial Liberals, and then was promoted to energy minister earlier this year.
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Thibeault is named in one of the charges against Pat Sorbara, who took a leave of absence from her job as Wynne’s deputy chief of staff to become the Ontario Liberals’ CEO and 2018 campaign director – posts she resigned from when the charges were laid. She is alleged to have promised to get Thibeault “an office or employment” to induce him to become a candidate.
Sorbara denies the charges, as does her co-accused, Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed.
The Election Act makes it an offence to offer a bribe, but not necessarily to ask for one.
Sorbara and Lougheed’s case was adjourned to Jan. 18 for a judicial pre-trial, if the Brewer matter is settled. The defence lawyers are also looking for a judge from outside Sudbury to hear the case.
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