Lawyers representing prominent Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. and former Liberal campaign director Patricia Sorbara say there is no other choice but a verdict of not guilty in the byelection bribery trial.
The two lawyers released a document on Twitter last week summarizing their defence arguments.
In their directed verdict application, Michael Lacy, Brian Greenspan and Erin Dann say Andrew Olivier could not, and did not, unilaterally declare that he would be the “candidate” for the Ontario Liberal Party (OLP) for the 2015 byelection.
The Toronto attornies argue Olivier was entitled to run as a candidate in the byelection, however, he was not entitled to run as the Liberal candidate.
“Mr. Olivier's self-declaration that he was going to seek the OLP nomination in Sudbury was meaningless,” reads the statement. “In the leadup to the byelection, the OLP never agreed to, or approved, a nomination plan involving a 'contested' nomination race.
"At the time of the discussion ... a decision has already been made that there would not be a contested nomination race. (Lougheed and Sorbara) could not have said anything that induced Mr. Olivier in respect of an event that was not going to happen. Mr. Olivier's 'wishful thinking' that he would be able to persuade (Premier Kathleen Wynne) to change her mind was a product of his own self-induced misconception.”
Prior to the recorded conversations with Lougheed and Sorbara, Premier Kathleen Wynne had already decided there would be no contested nomination process to choose the Liberal candidate, the lawyers argue.
Any attempt to persuade Olivier to participate or refrain from participating in that process would not be prohibited by the Ontario Election Act, which regulates elections of members to serve in the Legislative Assembly, not the internal processes by which a private political party chooses its preferred candidate for such elections, the statement says.
The manner in which the OLP determines who will be a Liberal candidate is governed by the OLP constitution and is a private matter that is not subject to regulatory sanction.
Sorbara is also charged with inducing then NDP MP Glenn Thibeault to become a candidate by procuring or agreeing to procure employment for Thibeault's officer staff. However, the defence argues the stipends paid to the staff members in January 2015 were not offered in December 2014 to induce Thibeault to become a Liberal candidate. Rather, the stipends were paid to the two men for the hard work they put into the byelection campaign.
“The evidence is uncontested that it was only after Mr. Thibeault had made his decision to become the Liberal candidate, and indeed after the byelection campaign had commenced, that Ms. Sorbara approved modest stipends for Brian Band and Darrell Marsh.
“To put it bluntly, the idea that Ms. Sorbara induced Mr. Thibeault to leave his role as a Federal MP by promising modest one-time stipends for two staffers, totaling less than $5,000, is fanciful,” reads the statement. “More to the point, it draws no support from the evidence.”
The court case resumes Oct. 10 with arguments for and against dismissal.
