How Ontario cabinet ministers moonlight for money
Liberal ministers who spend their time targeting corporations and unions are the dirty little secret of Queen’s Park.
thestar.com
Jan. 12, 2016
By Martin Regg Cohn
So you want to be a provincial cabinet minister?
Beyond the power and the glory, the money’s what counts.
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 Chretien, 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.
As described in a column last February, he was the big draw for a $1,000-a-ticket “exclusive event” co-hosted by his Liberal party and the Ontario Long Term Care Association promising “quality time with Minister Hoskins” and special “face time.” The OLTCA promised its members a chance to “discuss the sector with the Minister, up close and personal.”
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. As the Star reported Saturday, the Ontario Tire Stewardship - a private agency designated by the government to recycle tires - made a $1,000 donation to the Hoskins-Bradley event. The tire agency also spent $3,200 at a 2015 summer golf classic with the premier and her caucus, in order to buttonhole Wynne about their concerns.
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.
Recall that the Beer Store, and the three big foreign-owned brewers that control it, donated more than $385,000 to the three main parties in 2013 and 2014. The UFCW, whose members include the Beer Store’s unionized workers, gave $140,000 to the Liberals and opposition New Democrats (the NDP also pocketed $500 from the tire stewardship agency).
Current laws allow an Ontario corporation or union to contribute up to $9,975 a year, plus $6,650 to riding associations and candidates - more in election years. Sister companies, and executives’ family members, often boost the total donations far beyond those limits.
Wondering why there is so little clamour for reform? Ontario’s New Democrats and Progressive Conservatives are conspicuously silent because they, too, profit from such donations.
With the opposition looking the other way - and looking after its own fundraising interests - the government of the day gets its way. And by night, its ministers auction themselves off to the highest bidders at the premier’s bidding.
