It was exactly three years ago this month that I travelled to the Plaza Hotel in Minnow Lake for a news conference called by Andrew Olivier.
Olivier had won a struggle for an open nomination process in June of that year to run in the provincial election for the Liberals in Sudbury. He lost a very close race to NDP candidate Joe Cimino. So when Cimino shocked Ontario's political classes by resigning that November, the assumption was Olivier would carry the Grit banner into the byelection.
I guessed the Dec. 15, 2014, news conference was related to a formal announcement he was running. Boy was I wrong.
Oliver revealed he not only wasn't the candidate, but that representatives of the Liberal Party had tried to get him to step aside in favour of a then-yet-to-be-named mystery candidate.
What followed has been well documented as the Sudbury byelection scandal — almost three years of headlines, charges, stayed charges and finally a criminal case dismissed this past October before the defence had to present any evidence.
Quite a way for now Sudbury MPP Glenn Thibeault to make an entrance into provincial politics. Despite the scandal, Thibeault won the February 2015 vote and now is the Minister of Energy for Ontario.
In a year-end interview with Sudbury.com, I asked Thibeault if it was worth it, considering the vitriol he received – and continues to receive – for switching parties and the flood of bad press he got, and from the charges others faced as a result.
"What do I take away from it?" Thibeault asked, taking a long pause in his New Sudbury office. "The reason I got into politics was to be able to do more for my community. In the almost three years now — we were in the throes of this three years ago, remember — we've been able to do a lot."
He was always sure that Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. and former Liberal campaign director Patricia Sorbara would be exonerated, but says waiting out the court process was hard.
"I didn't think it was going to take 2 1/2 years, so that was very difficult,” Thibeault said. “But really, at the end of the day, I always said we did nothing wrong. And the judge was very clear nothing that we did was wrong."
While not implicated in the court proceedings, Thibeault was subject to nasty comments, threats and other disturbing behaviour from angry residents. He understands why some didn't like his decision – he famously fell out with Thomas Mulcair, the soon-to-be-former leader of the federal NDP – but he wasn't just crossing the floor, he was going to face the electorate immediately.
"People may not like that I've crossed parties, but I'm not the first person to do that,” he said. “At the end of the day, as I said all along, I wanted to be able to find a way to continue to help my community, to continue to help my city. And I thought I could best do that provincially with the Liberal Party. And my record has been showing that over the last little bit."
While crossing political floors and dealing with all the fallout from the byelection scandal was grueling, Thibeault says he would do it again, even knowing what would follow.
"Would I do this all again and have to go through that whole rigmarole, the name calling, the stuff that my family went through, and the way some people were perceiving me? I would absolutely do it all again.”
