The OPP has charged Sudbury Liberal powerbroker Gerry Lougheed Junior with one count of bribery under the Ontario Elections Act. Police have also charged Patricia Sorbara, the Premier’s deputy chief of staff with two counts of bribery. Both are alleged to have offered a former Liberal candidate a bribe in return for not seeking the Sudbury nomination in a 2015 by-election. Lougheed was charged criminally earlier, but the offenses were suspended pending the investigation into the Election Act violations. Sorbara has never faced charges under the Criminal Code. OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes says this has been a complex case and an unprecedented investigation and adds police won’t be commenting on it.
