Ontario Liberals host major fundraiser, expected to raise about $3 million
Posted March 30, 2016 3:35 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli says all Ontario Liberal cabinet ministers are meeting or exceeding their fundraising targets for the party.
Chiarelli’s comments, on his way into a cabinet meeting today, come after Premier Kathleen Wynne refused to confirm reports that her ministers have six-figure targets, some as high as $500,000 a year.
Later today, the Liberals host their biggest fundraiser of the year, the $1,600-a-plate Heritage Dinner, which last year raised $2.75 million.
Wynne says she plans to tighten rules on political donations starting this fall, “transitioning away from” corporate and union donations, though not all the changes will be in place before the 2018 election.
Chiarelli says he thinks there is a perception that bigger donors get preferential treatment, but it’s not true.
The energy minister was responding to a Globe and Mail report that one of the banks that acted as an underwriter for the Hydro One IPO promoted a $7,500-per-person fundraiser for Chiarelli and Finance Minister Charles Sousa.
