Liberals mocked over ‘frivolous’ complaint that Tories, NDP are breaking fundraising law
The next Ontario election is 44 weeks away, but political games are already at a fever pitch.

TheStar.com
Aug. 3, 2017
Robert Benzie

The next Ontario election is 44 weeks away, but political games are already at a fever pitch.

This week, the Liberals filed a formal complaint with Elections Ontario claiming both the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats have broken the province’s tough new fundraising law.

But the governing party’s allegations against their main rivals do not seem to hold water.

On Wednesday, David Clarke, the Liberals’ executive director, complained in writing to Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa that the Tories and New Democrats are flouting the restrictions triggered by a Star probe last year.

“I am concerned about multiple apparent contraventions of the Election Finances Act . . . by at least 14 nominated candidates from the . . . PC Party and further apparent contraventions of the law by two (NDP MPPs),” wrote Clarke.

“I ask that you fully investigate these allegations.”

The Liberals claim a $500-a-plate July 27 dinner at One King West attended by 14 nominated Tory candidates violated a ban on politicians going to such fundraisers.

In fact, Elections Ontario assured the Tories on June 26 that nominated candidates “can attend a fundraising event between the end of their nomination meeting and the day the writ is dropped.”

The independent overseer of provincial campaigns confirmed that to the Star on Thursday.

“Under the Election Finances Act . . . the effective date of registration is deemed to be the date of issue of the writ. We have provided this information to all political parties,” said Election Ontario’s Cara Des Granges.

With the next election set for June 7, 2018, that means the campaign does not officially begin until May 9.

In their letter to Essensa, the Liberals also alleged that the New Democrats broke the law at a separate event on July 18 in Niagara Falls.

They believe that raising $20,175 at MPP Wayne Gates’ nomination meeting was illegal because both Gates and NDP deputy leader Jagmeet Singh were in attendance.

However, an Elections Ontario bulletin issued to the parties this summer specifically spelled out a list of where attendance restrictions “do not apply.”

These include to fundraisers where “the attendees pay no fee or charge to gain entry to meet a party leader or MPP, but have the option of making contributions by bidding in a silent auction at the event . . . (or at) an annual general meeting where no contribution is embedded in the entry fee.”

Rick Dykstra, president of the Progressive Conservative party, expressed astonishment that the Liberals do not appear to grasp a law they crafted and passed.

“Several months ago, the PC party did its due diligence to read the law, confirm with Elections Ontario what the law means, and fully abide by it,” said Dykstra.

“It would appear by this complaint that the Ontario Liberal Party has not read, or is unable to understand, the law they wrote,” he said.

“But the Liberal party’s ignorance to the law should come as no surprise given their own very serious legal problems.”

That’s a reference to two trials of former Liberal aides that begin next month in Toronto and Sudbury.

The New Democrats also blasted the Grits for wasting Elections Ontario’s resources by calling for investigations into petty grievances.

“Ontario families would be better served if Kathleen Wynne and the Liberal party spent less time making frivolous complaints and more time addressing the needs of Ontarians,” said Karla Webber-Gallagher, the NDP provincial secretary.

Webber-Gallagher emphasized that the New Democrats “are confident that all rules were respected.”

Wynne moved to reform Ontario’s lax fundraising rules after the Star revealed in March 2016 that Liberal cabinet ministers had secret annual party targets of up to $500,000 apiece.

Under the changes, which took effect on Jan. 1, corporate and union donations are banned, MPPs and registered candidates cannot attend fundraisers, and the individual contribution limit has dropped to $1,200.

To offset the lost donation revenue, parties receive yearly $2.71-per-vote public subsidies based on the results of the 2014 election.

The Liberals, with 1,863,974 votes, receive $5.06 million annually; the Tories, with 1,508,811 votes, $4.09 million; the NDP, with 1,144,822 votes, $3.1 million; and the Greens, with 232,536 votes, $630,000.