A judge has tossed a case against Ontario Liberals Patricia Sorbara and Gerry Lougheed Jr., accused of violating the Elections Act in the lead up to the 2015 byelection in Sudbury.
Justice Howard Borenstein granted a directed verdict application requested by the defence that called for the charges to be dismissed before the defence called any witnesses.
Sorbara and Lougheed, who pleaded not guilty, were accused of offering would-be candidate Andrew Olivier a job or appointment to step aside for Wynne's preferred candidate in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, Ont.
Olivier recorded conversations he had with both Sorbara and Lougheed and posted the recordings online.
Sorbara also faced a second charge, alleging that she bribed Glenn Thibeault -- then the NDP MP and now the energy minister -- to become the candidate by arranging for paid jobs on the byelection campaign for two of his constituency staff.
Borenstein ruled that since Thibeault was already chosen as the Liberals’ candidate, there was no way to also consider Olivier a candidate under the terms of Ontario’s Elections Act and therefore no inducement or bribe could have been offered.
Sorbara’s lawyer Brian Greenspan called Tuesday’s decision “a total demonstration that these charges never should have been brought.”
“This is a positive note in terms of any allegations that any reasonable person could have made in terms of impropriety,” he said. “The allegations have been disproven.”
Sorbara said she was just happy the ordeal was over.
“I have no regrets today, I am happy with the outcome.”
Her sentiment was echoed by her co-accused, Lougheed.
“Today has been a great relief,” Lougheed said outside court. “When we talk about the last number of days, I can equate them to the last three years.”
The Liberals issued a statement welcoming Sorbara back into the party fold and saying they felt she was innocent all along.
“We have always been confident that once the facts surrounding this situation were known, a court would conclude that there was no wrongdoing.”
The Ontario PC’s tried to minimize the significance of the dismissal, with finance critic Vic Fedeli saying the trial was merely part of a “pattern of Liberal corruption.”
“The Sudbury piece is only one piece of a pattern of broader corruption.”
He said there is no reason that PC leader Patrick Brown should apologize for his comments last month where he suggested Premier Kathleen Wynne was “on trial” in Sudbury, when she was merely called to testify as a witness.
“(Wynne) chose to interject herself in the trial so his comments are fair game,” Fedeli said.
-- With files from the Canadian Press
