Sudbury byelection scandal moves from courtroom back to Queen's Park

Morning North6:41Criminal charges against Gerry Lougheed stayed

Criminal charges against Gerry Lougheed stemming from the by-election scandal will be stayed. The CBC's Erik White joined us in studio to talk about the case and what happens now.

The criminal case against prominent Sudbury businessman Gerry Lougheed may be on the backburnerafter the charges were stayed yesterday, but the political controversy over the 2015 Sudbury byelection is heating back up.

"I think it raises a lot of questions and I can guarantee you when the house returns this week there will be a lot of questions along this line: Where did this all come from? What happened here?" said New Democrat house leader and Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson.

The accusations that Lougheed and other Liberal officials tried to bribeformer Liberal candidate Andrew Olivier with jobs or appointments to stay out of the byelectionhave been popular fodder in question's period at Queen's Park.

Progressive Conservative MPP Steve Clark first called for a criminal investigation into the byelection and told CBC News he still feels this isn't the end.

"This won't be the last time we talk about this case," he says."Istill think the people of Sudbury deserve justice."

The federal prosecutor does have one year to re-start criminal proceedings before the charges influencing appointments and counseling an offence not committed would be officially dismissed.

Elections Act investigationongoing

The prosecutor is also reviewing the findings of an Ontario Provincial Police investigation into possible Elections Act violations.

While Lougheed's lawyer Michael Lacy has slammed the crown for confusing the criminal case with this parallel investigation, OPP detectivesuperintendent Dave Truax said the elections offences were purposely probed after the criminal investigation had concluded"to avoid conflicting legislation which sometimes bring different search powers and the ability to compel witnesses."

"They were done separate from each other," he said.

Truaxsaidthat the Elections Act investigation is ongoing, but that regular reports are being filed with the prosecutor for review.