One of three tapes released on the opening day of the Sudbury bribery trial captured discord between Andrew Olivier and former Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci over the 2014 provincial election.

While two of the three tapes were already public knowledge, the third tape had never been made public.

Olivier is a quadriplegic and records important conversations as a form of note taking. He had taped discussions with then Premier Kathleen Wynne’s deputy chief of staff Patricia Sorbara and Liberal fundraiser Gerry Lougheed Jr. They talked about a Sudbury byelection that needed to be called after Joe Cimino, the NDP MPP for Sudbury, suddenly quit six months after winning the riding in 2014 provincial election.

Olivier had previously released two tapes of conversations he had with Sorbara and Lougheed in mid-December 2014 that are at the heart of the bribery trial. On those tapes, Sorbara and Lougheed tell Olivier that Wynne had another candidate in mind to run for the Liberals in the byelection that would be held in February 2015. That candidate turned out to be Glenn Thibeault, who at that time was the NDP MP for Sudbury.

However, the new tape, which just came to light a few days ago, recorded a conversation on Nov. 23 between Sorbara and Olivier in which they talked about the coming byelection. This was before Thibeault had emerged as Wynne’s preferred candidate for the Liberals.

Olivier tells Sorbara he didn’t get much help from the Liberal riding association in Sudbury, or from Bartolucci, who had been Liberal MPP for Sudbury until he decided to retire from politics.

He says “we were getting sabotaged by his camp” during the 2014 campaign. “There was nothing in terms of help.”

He says Bartolucci still controlled the riding association, but that he would need their support if he was going to win the byelection. He says he failure to do so for the 2014 election was “a rookie mistake” on his part. “I thought everyone had best intentions, especially in Rick’s camp.”

Sorbara tells Olivier the Liberal leadership was under the impression that he had Bartolucci’s full support during the campaign.

“He never campaigned with me, not once,” Olivier responds. “We had no public appearances together or anything.”

Olivier was the Liberal candidate in the Sudbury riding in the 2014 provincial election and finished second, less than 1,000 votes behind Cimino, then a well-known city councillor.

He was looking to be the Liberal nominee in the pending byelection to fill the seat vacated by Cimino.

Wynne, however, opted to appoint Thibeault, who won the byelection is now Ontario’s Energy minister. Olivier ran in the byelection as an independent and finished third.

Sorbara and Lougheed are accused of attempting to induce Olivier to withdraw from the 2015 byelection in favour of Thibeault

In the new tape released yesterday, Sorbara says Wynne and Bartolucci, a cabinet minister under Wynne and former premier Dalton McGuinty, didn’t get along. “Their relationship was not that great.”

She also says Bartolucci had indicated that if Lougheed were involved with the party, he would not be. “It’s Gerry or me,” Sorbara says.

“Gerry and I have a great relationship,” Olivier tells Sorbara, adding he was ready to work with him.

They also discussed holding the byelection quickly, noting the PCs did not have a leader at the time and that according to Olivier, “the NDP here are completely unorganized … When they get organized, they are a tough group,” he says.

Sorbara agrees, saying it “will be important to (NDP Leader Andrea) Horwath to hold the seat.” She also says Wynne was determined to win the riding back.

Sorbara later tells Olivier, “you are the past candidate, but you’re not the current candidate yet.”

“I’m in your hands, Pat,” Olivier replies. “Whatever direction you guys give me is what I’ll do.”

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca