FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 4, 2015
QUEEN’S PARK – Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett has asked Premier Wynne to step aside if charges are laid in connection with the Sudbury by-election scandal.
Following a barrage of questions related to the matter, Barrett asked the Premier why she hadn’t removed her deputy chief of staff Pat Sorbara or Sudbury Police Services Board Chair Gerry Lougheed Jr.
The premier answered that an investigation into the allegations is taking place outside of the Ontario Legislature.
Barrett followed up with a statement about the rule of law, saying the Premier and her friends are not above the law and asking her “if charges are laid, will you step aside”.
Rather than answering the question, Wynne referred the question to Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Yasir Naqvi, who didn’t answer the question and claimed an investigation is underway in the judicial system.
“A precedent has been set by previous politicians,” Barrett said. “Interim Opposition Leader Jim Wilson stepped aside as Health Minister when there was an investigation into whether a staffer leaked confidential health documents. There is even a tradition in the governing party as former finance minister Greg Sorbara stepped aside in 2005 after a search warrant alleged he was part of an RCMP investigation into a land transaction.
“If charges are laid in any of the current Sudbury by-election OPP investigations, we expect the Premier to do the honourable thing and step aside until the charges are resolved.”
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For more information, contact MPP Toby Barrett
at 519-428-0446 or via e-mail at toby.barrett@pc.ola.org