Supreme Court won’t hear appeal from former RM of Sherwood councillor

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled it won’t hear an appeal by Tim Probe, a former RM of Sherwood councillor.

In a bulletin issued Friday, the court said the application by Probe for leave to appeal a judgment of the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal had been dismissed. The Supreme Court didn’t provide a reason for its decision.

In 2018, Probe was acquitted on charges of breach of trust and municipal corruption. The Crown appealed the decision on the breach of trust charge and, on Jan. 8 of this year, the Court of Appeal set aside the acquittal and ordered a new trial.

Probe appealed that decision in March to the Supreme Court, which announced its ruling Friday.

Probe was charged in 2016 after he was accused of offering to trade votes with RM of Sherwood Reeve Jeff Poissant over two issues.

One involved money reimbursed to several councillors, including Probe, over legal fees related to an investigation into the Wascana Village development in the RM. The other issue dealt with a Suncor development for a truck stop on land owned by Poissant’s parents.

Poissant recorded a coffee shop conversation the two had on Feb. 1, 2016 and the Crown based its initial case against Probe on that recording.

The trial judge acquitted Probe on both counts, but the Crown appealed on the basis the trial judge had made legal errors — and that appeal was upheld. That prompted Probe’s team to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

A date for the new trial hasn’t been set.