Ford government urged to cap donations at $100 after fundraising controversy

After a bruising week for the Ford government and its fundraising targets, with a proscription radical seemingly buying tickets to a Progressive Conservative lawsuit to get the attraction of a minister, an advocator is calling for donation limits to beryllium dramatically lowered to debar aboriginal controversy.

On Monday, Global News revealed that the Progressive Conservative party’s fundraiser, Tony Miele, had emailed each furniture ministers, telling them to clasp a definite fig of fundraising events earlier the extremity of the year.

The determination was necessary, helium said successful an email concisely sent to the authorities emails of chiefs of staff, to enactment the enactment successful a steadfast fiscal presumption earlier the adjacent election.

The PCs batted distant accusations from the Ontario NDP the email was thing similar the 2016 cash-for-access ungraded they hounded the erstwhile Liberal authorities over.

One group, however, appeared to beryllium nether the content buying tickets to a fundraiser hosted by Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and Doug Ford would beryllium a bully mode to gully attraction to changes they were lobbying for.

The Ontario Trucking Association asked its members to bargain astatine slightest 50 to 60 tickets to the fundraiser to “turn this lawsuit into an OTA subordinate trucking event,” and nonstop the Ford authorities a message.

“Our manufacture supports your government, and we request your authorities to bring bid to our sector,” the relation said successful its appeal.

Duff Conacher, from the radical Democracy Watch, said fundraising rules successful Ontario marque it hard to debar the cognition of struggle of interest.

“The occupation is that the strategy is the ungraded — it’s truly a strategy of legalized bribery,” helium said successful an interrogation on Focus Ontario.

Conacher said the champion mode to ace down connected the thought that attending a fundraiser could beryllium a strategical mode to beforehand your interests with the authorities of the time is to little donation limits significantly.

“When you person this strategy of large donations that astir radical can’t afford, past making a large donation — and adjacent much truthful helping with the fundraising of a clump of donations — is simply a mode of having much influence,” helium said.

“The fig 1 measurement is to bash what Quebec did aft it had a corruption ungraded present astir 15 years ago, which is to little the donation bounds to the magnitude that the mean elector tin afford. And successful Ontario that’s lone astir $100 based connected the donation records from Elections Ontario of amounts the mean elector donates to a party.”

At Queen’s Park during the week, portion the Ontario NDP repeatedly asked the authorities astir the issue, the Liberals — who suffered done akin claims erstwhile they were successful powerfulness —  were little keen to sermon the issue.

“The NDP is just, successful fairness, wasting a batch of invaluable location clip talking astir that contented erstwhile they should beryllium talking astir the things Ontario families attraction astir the most,” Liberal MPP Stephen Blais said Thursday.

He said that magnitude is “probably excessively high,” but different suggested the rules arsenic they basal are working.

“We had an utmost fundraising prohibition successful the past — it didn’t work,” helium said.

“If we privation to person a vigorous statement erstwhile it’s clip for elections, that requires that governmental parties are well-funded, to explicit themselves, and guarantee that Ontarians tin perceive that message. That requires money, that requires fundraising.”

Undeterred, the NDP plans to array an absorption question connected Tuesday to halt ministers from receiving benefits oregon donations that straight oregon indirectly subordinate to the portfolios they manage.

Ontario NDP Marit Stiles previewed the program connected Thursday, saying cabinet ministers should not beryllium fundraising disconnected of radical who person concern successful their ministry.

“That’s beauteous explicit,” she said Thursday successful the legislature. “The authorities has created a cash-for-access civilization that is sending Ontarians a wide connection that if they privation to beryllium heard, they request to wage up.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

Focus Ontario premieres astatine 5:30 p.m. connected Saturday, Nov. 23, connected Global TV.