Lawyer: Lougheed anxious for his day in court

The lawyer for Gerry Lougheed Jr. says his client is anxious to have his day in court.

After a brief appearance on his client's behalf Wednesday morning in Sudbury court, lawyer Michael Lacy of Greenspan Partners told reporters Lougheed wants his case to move forward as quickly as possible.

"Now that the charges have been laid, we want a judge to be the one to determine the merits of the charge,” Lacy said. “We want it to be an expeditious process.

"Even though the charge is recent, this has been hanging over Gerry's head for a long time. So we're not afraid to move the matter forward."

Lougheed was charged in September in connection with a scandal that emerged in late 2014 during the Sudbury byelection.

A funeral director who has raised money for several causes in the city, Lougheed is charged with one count of Counselling an Offence Not Committed [Section 464 (a) of the Criminal Code] and one count of Unlawfully Influencing or Negotiating Appointments [Section 125 (b) of the Criminal Code].

The charges were laid following an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police's Anti-Rackets Branch that began in January of this year. That's when former Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier released recordings of a conversation with Lougheed in which Olivier's future as a candidate was discussed.

In the conversation, which took place in December 2014, Lougheed tells Olivier that Premier Kathleen Wynne was supporting Glenn Thibeault as the party's candidate in the February byelection.

At issue in the case is whether Olivier was improperly offered a job or an appointment in return for not running for the nomination and supporting Thibeault instead.

Lacy said he doesn't think the Crown has a winnable case.

"We don't believe there were any basis to charge him, in the circumstances,” he said. “The police obviously saw that differently.
The Crown now is prosecuting the matter. So he's not happy to be charged, obviously, (because) from his perspective he didn't do anything wrong.

"He is at least satisfied that now we're before the court and we can move the matter forward."

Lacy wouldn't speculate on whether he thinks the charges against Lougheed were the result of political pressure.

"You'd have to ask the police why they charged Gerry, and what prompted them to open their investigation,” he said. “You'd have to ask them if it's motivated by political considerations, rather than ordinary considerations."

The next step in the process is a judicial pre-trial Dec. 1, which is a closed-door process between the judge and lawyers. Lacy expects to have full disclosure from the Crown by then, which would give him access to all the information used to bring criminal charges in the case.

“Between now and then we'll review the disclosure and we'll ... probably be in a position of discussing things like whether there's going to be a preliminary inquiry, whether there's going to be a trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, whether there's going to be a trial in the Superior Court of Justice," he said. "We need to review what disclosure is available before we make those decisions.

"We're interested in moving this matter forward. It's been long enough.”

The next public court appearance in the case will take place Dec. 9 in Sudbury court at 10 a.m.