It was their opposition to former Sudbury mayor Marianne Matichuk that motivated the local Liberal riding association to demand an open nomination process, defence lawyers argued Monday as the Sudbury bribery trial continued for a third day.
Testifying was Bill Nurmi, head of the riding association when Rick Bartolucci was MPP and who resigned in the wake of the byelection scandal.
On trial is Gerry Lougheed Jr., a Liberal fundraiser at the time, and Pat Sorbara, the then Ontario Liberal Party CEO. They are accused under the Election Act of offering former candidate Andrew Olivier a job or appointment to get him to step aside for Glenn Thibeault, who was Wynne's preferred candidate for the February 2015 byelection.
Sorbara is also facing a second charge, in relation to an alleged offer made to Thibeault to get him to become the candidate.
Crown prosecutor Vern Brewer led Nurmi through the events leading up to the June 2014 election, when Olivier and former candidate Elise Idnani were fighting for an open nomination process. Rumours were widespread that Premier Kathleen Wynne wanted a “star candidate” for the riding and was courting Matichuk.
“We wanted a contested nomination,” Nurmi said. “We wanted to be sure our views were on the table.”
In April of that year, Nurmi told Andre Bisson, vice-president of the northern region of the Liberal Party of Ontario, that the local executive would resign if the party didn't hold an open nomination meeting.
Was it because of the Matichuk rumours?
“Her name was still out there, yes,” Nurmi replied. “It was personal to her, and still not wanting an appointment.”
Once the party relented and Olivier easily won the nomination, Nurmi said the association felt sidelined during the election campaign.
“We'd tried to give Andrew some direction on how a campaign should run,” Nurmi testified, adding they regularly tried to help.
“Each time we offered, it was refused,” he said. “They said they had it covered.”
That testimony contrasts sharply with Olivier's, who said last week he felt abandoned by Bartolucci and his supporters. But Nurmi said the executive felt frozen out by a new regime at Queen's Park.
“I didn't feel we were part of his campaign,” Nurmi said. “I felt maybe our time was over.”
The reason, he surmised, was Bartolucci had backed Sandra Pupatello in the 2013 leadership race and not Wynne, and that caused friction between the Bartolucci camp and the new premier.
“We had backed another leadership candidate,” Nurmi said simply.
When Joe Cimino suddenly quit in November 2014, Nurmi was on vacation and came home to dozens of calls from the media.
Michael Lacy, defence lawyer for Lougheed, suggested the Liberal executive was pushing for an open nomination process for the byelection to replace Cimino because it would make it harder for Matichuk to be the candidate.
Since Olivier had already signed up 300-500 members for the June election, Lacy asked whether he would have an advantage over a new candidate “on a pure mathematical basis.”
“Yes, the other person would have to play catchup,” Nurmi replied.
At a Nov. 26, 2014, meeting in Sudbury attended by Sorbara and Lougheed, Lacy said the executive insisted Matichuk not be present, or they wouldn't attend.
“Did you know someone asked Marianne Matichuk not to attend the Nov. 26 meeting?” Lacy asked. “That if she attended members wouldn't attend?”
“I don't recall that,” Nurmi replied. “But it's a possibility, yes.”
Describing Lougheed as a family friend for decades, Nurmi said it wasn't unusual for him to be at that meeting, since he had raised so much money for the party and had work so closely with Bartolucci.
“He raised money for the Ontario Liberal Party itself and was always consulting with Rick,” Nurmi said. “Him being there, for me, was no problem. I think Gerry had a place at the table.”
“The gist of the meeting was there was a possibility the premier might appoint (a candidate),” Nurmi said. “We stated we wanted an open nomination … We tried to make it clear to Pat we wanted an open nomination.”
While there was still talk of a star candidate – and Matichuk was the only one mentioned at that time – Olivier held a stunning news conference in December when he went public with accusations he had been offered something to support an unnamed candidate, who turned out to be Thibeault.
“He released the recordings, he felt he had been slighted and wanted to make it public,” Nurmi said. “We were angry. We didn't want it to happen.”
The riding association met soon afterward, and many wanted to resign as a group.
“I convinced them not to,” Nurmi said. “We had nothing against Mr. Thibeault. We had everything against the process.
“I never personally dealt with Thibeault, but I knew who he was. The person wasn't the problem. The process was.”
Former LU president and current hospital CEO Dominic Giroux is scheduled to testify when the trial resumes Tuesday morning. While Bartolucci had been expected to testify, Crown prosecutors could be heard telling the defence that former MPP may not be called, since Nurmi was able to provide the testimony they needed.
Wynne is expected to appear Wednesday, with Thibeault slated to testify sometime after that.
