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Toronto, Premier Kathleen Wynne says she’ll co-operate fully with Ontario Provincial Police when they question her later this week about the Liberal party’s actions during a Sudbury byelection in February.
The OPP are investigating allegations the Liberals offered a job or appointment to Andrew Olivier, their Sudbury candidate in 2014, to step aside in favour of Wynne’s preferred choice for the byelection, former NDP MP Glenn Thibeault.
Wynne says she’ll answer whatever questions the police have, and will leave it up to the public to make any judgments about the appearance of a sitting premier being interviewed by police.
The premier maintains there was no need to offer Olivier anything because she’d already decided he wouldn’t be the Liberal candidate, but she wanted to keep him active and involved in the party.
Olivier made public audio recordings of his conversations with Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, Pat Sorbara, and Sudbury Liberal Gerry Lougheed, prompting police to reopen an investigation they had previously deemed closed.
Wynne spoke to Olivier as well before the byelection, but her call with him was not recorded.
The OPP began investigating allegations the Liberals’ actions violated the Criminal Code, but later began looking into possible violations of the Election Act as well.
Elections Ontario concluded that Sorbara and Lougheed’s actions constitute an “apparent contravention” of the Election Act concerning bribery, but the agency has no mandate to conduct prosecutions.
Thibeault recaptured the Sudbury seat for the Liberals, who lost the riding to the NDP in the 2014 general election.
