The bribery section of the Election Act says no person shall directly or indirectly “give, procure or promise or agree to procure an office or employment to induce a person to become a candidate, refrain from becoming a candidate or withdraw his or her candidacy.”

A conviction under the bribery section of the Election Act carries a penalty of up to $5,000. Though Wynne is being called as a witness by the Crown, she has said that she had already decided Olivier would not be the byelection candidate and as a result there was no need to offer him anything in exchange for not running. David Livingston and Laura Miller, who were then-premier Dalton McGuinty’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, face charges of breach of trust, and mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system to commit the offence of mischief. The pair is accused of offering a would-be candidate, Andrew Olivier, a job or appointment to get him to step aside in a 2015 byelection in Sudbury, Ont., for Thibeault — who was an NDP MP at the time and Wynne’s preferred candidate.
Pío García-Escudero, the President of the Senate also testify as a witness in the same investigation.