Ontario Provincial Police have laid bribery charges against a top Sudbury Liberal activist after the byelection scandal that rocked Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government last winter.

But police on Thursday cleared Pat Sorbara, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, of any criminal wrongdoing in the Feb. 5 vote won by the Liberals.

Gerry Lougheed, chair of the Greater Sudbury Police Services Board and a wealthy funeral director, was charged with one count of counselling an offence not committed and one count of unlawfully influencing or negotiating appointments.

Lougheed will appear in Sudbury court on Nov. 18. If convicted, he could face a prison sentence of up to five years for one offence and seven years for the other, according to the Criminal Code of Canada.

Wynne expressed relief about Sorbara, saying, “I never believed my staff did anything wrong.”

“Of course, it’s a serious situation,” she said of the charges against Lougheed, a top Liberal fundraiser. “It’s upsetting.”

Asked if anyone in her government directed him do anything untoward, Wynne replied: “It is now for the court system to ask those questions.”

In a statement to CBC Sudbury, Lougheed, 61, said he would “be vigorously defending these charges in the courts.

“As I have previously indicated, if charged, I would step aside from the Sudbury Regional Police Services Board and my position as chancellor of Huntington University until this matter is resolved. I have no further comments at this time as this matter is now before the courts,” he said.

Sorbara declined to comment.

OPP Det.-Supt. Dave Truax said a parallel investigation continues into less serious allegations that the provincial Elections Act was violated.

Truax said the criminal probe took more than eight months because it was “a very uncommon investigation.”

“These are sections of the Criminal Code that are not commonly enforced and as a result that increases the complexity of the matter and we wanted to ensure that we were professional and thorough,” he said.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said Wynne should step aside until the case, based on a taped conversation Lougheed had with former Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier, is resolved.

“Allegedly, Gerry Lougheed was her spokesman . . . Gerry Lougheed wasn’t freelancing here,” Brown charged.

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NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said someone must have directed Lougheed.

“Was it the premier? Was it somebody in her office? Who gave the order to Mr. Lougheed to offer incentives for Mr. Olivier not to run?” she said.

The controversy began when New Democrat MPP Joe Cimino resigned on Nov. 20, just five months after winning the riding of Sudbury in the 2014 provincial election.

Olivier, runner-up by 980 votes in that campaign, wanted, again, to be the Liberal candidate in pursuit of his goal of being the first quadriplegic MPP.

That dream was shattered after Wynne lured away popular local NDP MP Glenn Thibeault from federal politics to run provincially as a Liberal.

The premier, Lougheed and Sorbara each personally appealed to Olivier to rally behind Thibeault’s appointment for the good of the party.

Because he often tapes conversations for note-taking purposes, his talks with Lougheed in his office and Sorbara by phone were recorded. (His call from Wynne came while he was in an elevator and wasn’t taped.)

“The premier wants to talk. They would like to present you options in terms of appointments, jobs, whatever, that you and her and Pat Sorbara could talk about,” Lougheed told Olivier on Dec. 11.

On Dec. 12, Sorbara emphasized that “we should have the broader discussion about what is it that you’d be most interested in doing . . . whether it’s a full-time or part-time job in a constit. office, whether it is appointments, supports or commissions, whether it is also going on the exec., there are lots . . . .”

Those were references to positions in an MPP’s constituency office and on the Liberal party executive.

A few weeks later, Olivier, who eventually ran as independent in the byelection and finished third, took his concerns public.

“Although I did not initiate this investigation, I will co-operate as I have from the outset with the authorities in any way I can,” he said Thursday, declining further comment.

Even before Olivier released the recordings, the Progressive Conservatives and New Democrats called the OPP and Elections Ontario to investigate.

Greg Essensa, the province’s chief electoral officer, found the Liberals were in “apparent contravention” of bribery laws.

On Thursday, Thibeault told reporters he did not feel in any way responsible for the scandal.

“I don’t think there’s anything tainting my work that I’m doing for the people of Sudbury,” he said.

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