Kathleen Wynne admits Ontario Liberal ministers have fundraising quotas but won't admit quotas are up to $500,000/year each

Ontario’s Liberal government is an old hand at explaining away shady fundraising practices.

When it was revealed  in October that Ontario’s teachers unions received millions of dollars from the government to help cover the costs of collective bargaining — the same unions that donated $800,000 to the Ontario Liberal Party and spent $6.5 million attacking its opponents in the past three election campaigns — Education Minister Liz Sandals  shrugged it off. “That actually has nothing to do with anything … it isn’t about who politically supports who,” she said.

When it was emerged in January that the privately owned Ontario Tire Stewardship, which is designated to recycle the 12 million used tires the province disposes of annually, had made donations to the Ontario Liberals, party spokesperson Patricia Favre insisted there was nothing nefarious going on. “Fundraising happens across all parties and is just one of the ways people can be a part of the democratic process,” she said. ...

Premier Kathleen Wynne used a similar pretext when questioned about her party’s recent $6,000-per-plate fundraiser, which offered “one-on-one” access to herself and Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli. “We have to be able to raise money in order to run campaigns, in order to get our message out into communities,” she said. Her spokeswoman added that, “Donations and fundraisers are a part of the democratic process that all parties engage in.”

It’s true that the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives run their own versions of pay-for-access events. The New Democrats, for example, recently hosted a dinner in Toronto featuring Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at $10,000 per ticket. The Ontario PCs have offered meet-and-greets with leader Patrick Brown at Queen’s Park for donors who contribute $5,000. And all three parties have been on the receiving end of donations from the foreign owners of The Beer Store, which continues to enjoy a lucrative quasi-monopoly in Ontario. Indeed, it’s no mystery why the opposition parties have been lethargic in pressing the government to change the rules.

The fact other parties engage in the same dubious practices does not make it acceptable or ethical. And only the the Liberals, with their majority government, are in a position to repay donors with favourable decisions on how much teachers are paid, or who will recycle Ontario’s tires, or how much of Hydro One the Liberals will sell off. And it’s the Liberals who have explored ever-more questionable frontiers in bartering for their favour. This week alone two new examples came to light: on Tuesday we learned that Hydro One executives paid $7,500 per plate for face time with the province’s Energy and Finance ministers; at the same time the Toronto Star confirmed what many watching Queen’s Park have long suspected, that Ontario cabinet members are assigned fundraising quotas — some as high as $500,000 per year — to keep the party flush with cash.

To suggest the government is able to make decisions divorced from whatever generous donations it receives is not credible. Maintaining that  “democracy” involves buying access to elected leaders demonstrates either a fundamental misunderstanding of the democratic process, or the belief that voters are hopelessly naïve. ...

Wynne initially defended her party against the recent revelations, before announcing plans to introduce “significant reforms” in the fall. How convenient. Notably, the “reforms” will be introduced over a “transition” period leading to the next election, and may not all be in place by the time of the next vote. Again, how convenient: the Liberals will be able to claim credit for reforming the system even while continuing to milk it for all it’s worth.

There is no reason real reforms should take so long to introduce. 

You won’t get rich as a minister of the Crown. But you’ll be reeling in big money — tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars — for Ontario’s Liberal Party, trying to meet your assigned fundraising target.

That’s the price of admission to Kathleen Wynne’s inner circle — a place where money talks, and is a key part of your unofficial job description. Moonlighting ministers who fail to meet their annual targets risk the wrath of a party and a premier who keep defending our indefensible fundraising laws.

Just ask Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid, who was in a panic last month after coming up short on his quasi-quota. Under pressure to cough up the requisite stash of cash, Duguid also relied on his political staff to hit up potential donors in time for his deadline.

It’s a lesson for all Liberals in high profile portfolios — economic development, health, energy, finance, transportation — that if you don’t troll for funds, you’ll lose favour with the premier.

Liberal ministers who spend their time targeting corporations and unions are the dirty little secret of Queen’s Park. Ontario remains the Wild West of Canadian fundraising, now that Alberta has cleaned up its own election financing embarrassments.

Shortly after winning power last spring, NDP Premier Rachel Notley banned all such donations with the “Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta.” She was following the lead of two former federal prime ministers — Jean Chrétien, who first imposed limits on corporate and union contributions, and then Stephen Harper, who eliminated them entirely.

Ontario, however, is still living — and fundraising — in the past. Wynne makes no apologies for perpetuating the practice, describing corporate donations — unlawful elsewhere — as an important right for these entities in the democratic process.

Trolling for company money may be good for the party’s treasury, but it’s bad for the province’s governance. Corporations don’t donate for altruistic reasons, but to access power and advance their own agendas.

Their contributions distort the political process and divert politicians from the public interest. Too much ministerial time is spent hosting intimate dinners at exorbitant prices with so-called stakeholders who have a stake in cabinet decisions.

Consider the conflicting mandates of Health Minister Eric Hoskins. By day, he is the public steward of a $52-billion budget for hospitals, doctors, and long-term care; by night, he is a sterling fundraiser who hobnobs with well-to-do donors seeking a quiet word with him about their pet projects. ...

The year before, as economic development minister, Hoskins was the “special guest” at a $1,000-per-ticket fundraiser hosted by then-environment minister Jim Bradley, at a facility owned by Labatt Breweries. ...

That’s small beer compared to the $100,000 private dinner hosted by Bruce Power in 2013 for Wynne and Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, attended by major union and corporate players, where they could talk up plans — announced with Chiarelli last month — to refurbish Bruce’s nuclear reactors in a multi-billion-dollar deal.

Miller and party president Sharon White spearheaded an ambitious social media campaign, membership drive, women's network and fundraising initiative after the 2013 election, which has seen the Liberals outpace their New Democratic rivals.

The Liberals paid off their $3 million election debt within two years and, according to the NDP (which is still in debt), the Liberals are now raising $100,000 a week for the 2017 election war chest.

She became an "invaluable" party leader, said Mike McDonald, the party's 2013 campaign director and a longtime friend of the premier.

faces three charges — breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system to commit mischief — in relation to the deleted emails and documents

As deputy premier Rich Coleman tells it, the B.C. Liberals decided to risk a backlash over rehiring Laura Miller, their under-a-cloud executive director, because they couldn’t do without her.

“We really wanted her to be able to come back because she is actually very good at what she does,” the veteran cabinet minister and co-chair of the 2013 election campaign told reporters Thursday. “From my experience, I would say she is one of the best organizers in the country.”

What does she bring? “Organization. Understanding of how to run a campaign, how to run an office. Personnel-wise, I don’t think the morale at our party has ever been better for the people that worked with her. The party is better organized and better financed than it has been in decades.”

Miller joined the B.C. Liberals from their Ontario counterparts as an organizer before the 2013 election. After the big B.C. win she was recruited for the post of executive director, where she presided over retirement of the campaign debt and then began organizing for the 2017 election.

She stepped down last December after she was charged with breach of trust and mischief in connection with the alleged destruction of emails in the office of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty before she came to B.C.

Miller’s resignation prompted the party leader and premier, Christy Clark, to put out a statement trumpeting the departing executive director as “a person of integrity” who had “stepped down to focus on clearing her name.”

Three months later, Miller has yet to clear her name and the charges remain active in Ontario. But this week came word from B.C. Liberal headquarters that the party’s executive board had unanimously voted to “welcome Laura back to the team … reflecting the full confidence we have in her.” ...

It would appear that Liberals may have been scheming to restore Miller to the executive director post all along.

“Laura stepped aside to take the time to return to Ontario to organize her defence,” Coleman told reporters. “There was always the notion that once that was organized that there was a possibility that we would take her back. ”

He also discounted the charges, suggesting they were scarcely relevant to British Columbians.

“It is something that happened in another jurisdiction,” said Coleman. “This is a pretty old case as you know, it is winding its way through their judicial system which is really not our issue. Our issue was, is she qualified to do the job?”

MARK BLINCH / REUTERS

Finance Minister Charles Sousa has an annual tally to raise for the Liberals of around $500,000. He emphasized that donors have no sway over government policy.

As the embattled Liberals scramble to revamp Ontario’s lax political fundraising rules, the opposition New Democratic Party has pounced on the controversy to raise money. In an email appeal, NDP provincial secretary Karla Webber-Gallagher implores supporters to pony up as the Liberals gathered Wednesday for their annual Heritage Dinner. “Let’s be honest, all political parties need to raise money . . . but when it comes to attracting huge donations from corporations and lobbyists, the Liberals are in a league of their own,” she continued. ...

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli, who acknowledged he brings in around $300,000 annually to the Liberal party, insisted there is no tension among cabinet members regardless of their specific “allotment.” “I’m not aware of any wedge. We’re very collegial. We’re on the same team and we do the best we can in all of our responsibilities,” Chiarelli said Wednesday.

“I’m not aware of any minister who hasn’t met their allotment. I don’t know to what extent they may have met or exceeded their allotment,” he said. ...

Corporations, unions and individuals can contribute exponentially more than their yearly cap by giving additional cash during byelections and by funding candidates during party leadership campaigns, among other things.