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Leduc alleges Vagnini threatened him after Tuesday’s city council meeting

Following the threat, the Ward 11 councillor said he is withdrawing his motion to have Vagnini removed from Police Services Board out of concern for the safety of his family
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Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc (left) and Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini.

A clash between city councillors during Tuesday’s Greater Sudbury city council meeting allegedly intensified after the meeting wrapped up.

Following the meeting, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc said that Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini threatened him, but Leduc declined to specify any details of the threat. 

“I really don’t want to comment because I don’t want to interfere with the police investigation at this time,” he said, later clarifying that the threat made was “very serious.”

Leduc said that he wishes the public will respect his and his family’s privacy on this matter and that he’s waiting on the police investigation to settle matters.

A Greater Sudbury Police Service spokesperson confirmed they received a threat complaint from a city councillor in relation to a Greater Sudbury Police Services board member, which Vagnini sits on.

“In order to protect the integrity of the investigation and in order to ensure objectivity, we have engaged the North Bay Police Service to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations” GSPS told Sudbury.com.

“It’s a very serious matter,” Leduc said. “It’s got more to do with the safety of my family – me as a public figure, I’m fine with that, but my family has a private life … and I have to look out for their personal safety now.”

Sudbury.com reached out to Vagnini for comment today on Leduc’s allegation but did not receive a response despite repeated attempts.

Tuesday’s city council meeting ended at approximately 9 p.m. with Leduc striving to table a motion that sought to have Vagnini removed from the police board. 

Leduc took issue with a story Vagnini shared during the Jan. 18 finance and administration committee meeting in which Vagnini said:

“There’s one big large tent where I was (at Memorial Park) on Saturday night, and there was about eight gentlemen in the tent and they were yelling at an individual woman, and she got out of the tent and ran for her life when other two people from the shelter tried to get her to come back into the shelter and she just kept running.”

Leduc believes Vagnini should have phoned 911, while Vagnini previously indicated to Sudbury.com that the incident had been overblown and that the woman in question wasn’t in any genuine danger.

In correspondence with Sudbury.com, Vagnini was unclear as to whether he phoned 911, and claimed that as a police board member he is not allowed to phone 911.

A Greater Sudbury Police Service spokesperson clarified that this is not the case and that anyone is encouraged to phone 911 during an emergency.

During Tuesday’s brief debate on whether to table Leduc’s motion, Vagnini expressed concern that there might be a conflict of interest due to “legal action to protect a family member,” with no additional details provided at the time. 

The meeting hit the three-hour mark before council could vote on the motion, at which time city council failed to get the two-thirds majority required for the meeting to continue.

Sudbury.com reached out to Vagnini for comment on Tuesday night regarding the legal action he’d mentioned but our call was not returned. 

This morning, Sudbury.com was forwarded an affidavit written by Vagnini’s daughter that alleges Leduc phoned her on two occasions in 2020 during which Leduc inquired about Vagnini’s health and asked if he was “on drugs”. The purpose of the signed affidavit is unclear.

Leduc told Sudbury.com that he didn’t quite know what to make of the document, as it doesn’t cite any law or breach of the city’s code of conduct.

As for the motion to remove Vagnini from the police board, Leduc said he plans on withdrawing it, “for the safety of my family and for the safety of myself and my health, and the health of my family, and because of the current active police investigation.”

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com. 


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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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