Sudbury byelection scandal court case hears criminal charges against Gerry Lougheed Jr.
Lougheed faces charges of 'counselling an offence not committed and unlawfully influencing appointments'
The criminal charges against Gerry Lougheed have been heard in a Sudbury courtroom for the first time this morning.
Lougheed wasn't present, but was represented by lawyer Michael Lacy, who urged the court to move this case along quickly, saying that this has been "hanging over" Lougheed's head for too long already.
The allegations that Lougheed offered a job or appointment to Andrew Olivier to not run in a provincial byelection first surfaced last December. He wasn't formally charged with unlawfully influencing appointments until September.
Lougheed is officially charged with "counselling an offence not committed and unlawfully influencing appointments."
The latter charge applies to anyone who "solicits, recommends or negotiates in any manner with respect to an appointment to or resignation from an office, in expectation of a direct or indirect reward, advantage or benefit" and comes with a penalty of up to five years in prison.
Lougheed has always maintained he never did anything wrong and has vowed to "vigorously" defend himself against the charges.
For Sudbury, this is one of the city's most prominent citizens, well-known for his funeral home business as well as his charitable efforts, facing criminal charges and possible jail time.
But there are provincial ramifications as well, as this scandal has dominated question period at Queen's Park for months, with opposition parties trying to implicate the Liberal government and Premier Kathleen Wynne.
A Liberal official in Toronto told CBC News the Liberal party was paying a portion of Lougheed's legal bills — up until the point he was charged. After that, Lougheed has been paying his own legal bills.
Outside of the Sudbury courtroom today, Lacy said his client is eager to deal with the charges quickly.
"He's been under a cloud of suspicion for a long time. We don't believe there was any basis to charge him in the circumstances, the police obviously saw that differently. He's not happy to be charged obviously, from his perspective, he didn't do anything wrong," Lacy told reporters.
"But he is satisfied that now we are before a court and we can move the matter forward."
The lawyers and judge will meet in private Dec. 1 to discuss the case, but the next court date is set for Dec. 9.
Lacy told the court that he had just received the disclosure from the crown attorney, outlining their evidence against Lougheed, but said that it is not complete.
"It's a case where, as you know, has been investigated for some period of time. So some of the disclosure has been with the police for some period of time," Lacy said.
"You'd have to ask the crown why we don't have all the disclosure yet, but it's coming, I'm told it's coming."
Lougheed resigned as chair of Sudbury's Police Services Board and as chancellor of Huntington University until the case is resolved.
If this case goes to trial, the recorded conversation that Olivier released in January is expected to be the key piece of evidence. Listen to it below.