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Wynne's golf club fundraiser inappropriate

torontosun.com
By Christina Blizzard
Oct. 20, 2016

The head of the Ontario Medical Association and a property developer paid $5,500 each to have lunch with Premier Kathleen Wynne as a fundraiser for a posh women’s golf club two years ago, the Toronto Sun has learned.

Wynne’s wife, Jane Rounthwaite, is a member of the club and was on the board of directors of the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto (LGCT) at the time the club auctioned off the lunches.

The premier’s office confirmed the money raised went to a charitable foundation that maintains “heritage land” at the golf club (which charges $18,500 to join and $4,830 in annual fees).

Fair enough, the premier and the Liberal Party didn’t profit from the deal. There’s nothing wrong or illegal about what she did.

It’s just inappropriate for her to use her position to raise funds for such an organization.

It’s an exclusive club and average folk can’t afford to play there. If the club can’t afford to pay the upkeep of the land, they should hike their fees.

Selling access to the premier in such a fashion to raise money is, well, a bit tacky.

Two people made tying bids on the lunches - so she met with both - raising $11,000 for the club. One bidder was Virginia Walley, head of the OMA.

A spokesman for the OMA confirmed Walley had breakfast with Wynne in 2014 as a result of her successful bid. Walley is also a member of the club.

“The OMA reimbursed Dr. Walley for the amount that was bid on the breakfast,” OMA spokesman Nadia Daniell-Colarossi told me by email.

“Dr. Walley took the opportunity of the breakfast to raise the status of the contract between the province and Ontario’s doctors and to discuss general health-care issues. All of this occurred within the confines of the lobbying legislation in place at the time,” she said.

This comes after months of “pay for access” scandals that have documented how cabinet ministers routinely wined and dined representatives of special interest groups.

Ministers were set huge fundraising goals and were then expected to hobnob with corporate and union bigwigs and others who paid for face time at cocktail parties and fancy receptions.

In this case, of course, the money went to the golf course’s heritage foundation and not to party coffers. Still, it was a purchase of one-on-one time with the premier - something a Wynne spokesman says is “not a practice anymore.”

“Premier Wynne attends numerous events across Ontario each year on her personal time, to raise funds for a variety of charitable causes,” said Wynne spokesman Jenn Beaudry.

“In this particular occasion, Premier Wynne took part in two events in 2014 to raise funds for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto - North America’s only remaining golf club established by women for women,” she said.

“Funds raised through the charitable event were donated to the Ada Mackenzie Heritage Fund, which is used to preserve the heritage buildings on the golf course since the property is over 90 years old.”

There’s now a brutal deadlock in the OMA’s contract talks, so this may not have been money well spent on Walley’s part.

The other purchaser was Michael Rice of Rice Commercial Group, described on its website as a “prominent commercial and industrial developer.”

The company manages a portfolio of more than 320 hectares (800 acres) of commercial and industrial land in the GTA.

Rice did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Look, politics is very much a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” kind of thing. We’ve seen it also play out in U.S. politics, with Hillary Clinton’s so-called “pay for play” scandal involving the Clinton Foundation.

Here’s a hint: Next time someone asks for a donation, premier, just give ’em a Tim Hortons gift card.

About the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto: