Biggest fundraisers on the front bench
Crowd counts, cabinet quotas, and hot heckles, oh my!
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ABOVE THE FOLD
First in Observer — CABINET QUOTAS — With the explosive news that Tory cabinet ministers were given fundraising targets ahead of what could be a snap vote next spring, I’ve got a ranking of the biggest money-makers in DOUG FORD’s cabinet.
Let’s set the table: Global News got their hands on a memo from PC fundraiser-in-chief TONY MIELE laying out minimum targets at a crucial time for party coffers. Campaigns cost money, and PC fundraising cratered after the Greenbelt scandal.
Naturally, the NDP sunk their teeth into the drama during the morning’s Question Period. TERENCE KERNAGHAN plucked his questions straight from the PCs Official Opposition days, when they asked about KATHLEEN WYNNE-era fundraising targets, which, along with a broader Liberal cash-for-access scandal, prompted major reforms.
“My question is going to be the exact same question that Conservatives asked the former Liberal government: ‘Does the Premier acknowledge that setting fundraising targets for cabinet ministers forces them to fundraise from stakeholders with active files within their respective ministries?’”
Attorney General DOUG DOWNEY insisted “we do not have targets” and that the Miele memo “was a mistake when it was sent out — it was recalled immediately.” He, too, took the opportunity to bash the Grits. “This is not comparable to the Liberal scandal that put these guys in this corner to think about what they’ve done.”
Outside the chamber, NDP Leader MARIT STILES said she plans to ask the Integrity Commish to look into the matter.
One senior Conservative said the Miele memo is par for the course. “It is not a new concept that some of the most powerful politicians are also the best fundraisers.” Which brings us to the biggest money-makers on the front bench…
I tallied up data from Elections Ontario to find out which Ministers’ riding associations raise the most cash.
Before we dig in, some caveats: These numbers are from 2022, which was an election year and a time when parties and candidates go full-tilt on fundraising. It also only covers local contributions, which gives us a good sense of the riding association’s health, but doesn’t include that lucrative per-vote subsidy, or transfers to the main party. For instance, if STEPHEN LECCE were to host a big-ticket fundraiser, that cash could go to the central party and wouldn’t be captured in these figures.
Now that that’s out of the way, here are the Top 10 ministerial ridings that earned the most cash in the last election:
Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, previously held by then-minister MONTE McNAUGHTON, and now by Parliamentary Assistant STEVE PINSONNEAULT: $417,668
Vaughan-Woodbridge, repped by MICHAEL TIBOLLO: $359,775
King-Vaughan, STEPHEN LECCE’s neck of the woods: $205,901
Durham, TODD McCARTHY’s territory: $203,213
Etobicoke Centre, held by KINGA SURMA: $173,884
Nepean, which is about to get a lot more competitive now that ex-minister LISA MacLEOD is hanging up her MPP hat after 18 years: $172,891
Brampton South, PRABMEET SARKARIA’s neighbourhood: $164,750
DAVID PICCINI’s Northumberland-Peterborough South: $164,144
Simcoe North, JILL DUNLOP’s turf: $160,318
In Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, NEIL LUMSDEN rounds out the Hall of Fundraising Fame: $146,305
Screenshot: Elections Ontario
HAPPENING TODAY
DOUG FORD’S TUESDAY — 9 a.m.: The Premier will deliver remarks at pharmaceutical company Roche Canada. Also in tow: Health Minister SYLVIA JONES and Trade Minister VIC FEDELI.
9 a.m.: Solicitor General MICHAEL KERZNER is back at the podium in Toronto alongside Mental Health Minister MICHAEL TIBOLLO.
In the Media Studio…
9 a.m.: Liberal MARY-MARGARET McMAHON will pump up her forthcoming PMB to establish a beverage container deposit return system.
9:30 a.m.: NDPer SOL MAMAKWA is up next, to make an urgent announcement about public safety in Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg First Nation. Chief LOUIS KWISSIWA will be on hand.
10 a.m.: Liberal STEPHEN BLAIS will talk about the PCs being “the highest spending government of all time.”
FUNDRAISING WATCH — 6 p.m.: PCs STEPHEN LECCE and SAM OOSTERHOFF are headlining a $1,000-a-plate dinner in Toronto. Premier DOUG FORD is expected to show. Invite.
5 p.m.: Liberal captain BONNIE CROMBIE is hosting an intimate wine-and-cheese for $500. RSVP.
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ON THE ORDER PAPER
First up: Bill 197 — Transportation Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA’s legislation that boosts penalties for carjackers, stunt drivers and impaired motorists — is back on the chamber floor for third and final reading. Don’t forget: It’s one of several government bills that have been time-allocated, so there’s only 55 minutes slated for debate before a vote.
KERZNER CRACKDOWN — In the afternoon, Solicitor General MICHAEL KERZNER is expected to kick off second-reading debate on his Bill 223, the Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act, which effectively puts the nail in the coffin for safe drug consumption sites by blocking municipalities and local public health boards from getting federal approval.
“We are shutting down that loophole,” said Health Minister SYLVIA JONES.
Also: Kerzner’s bill stiffens penalties for VIN-related fraud with an eye to addressing auto thefts — scofflaws would face fines up to $100,000 and as much as six months in jail. It also bans registered sex offenders from legally changing their names. Backgrounder.
Later on: PC NATALIE PIERRE will move her motion calling on the government to continue consultations re: condo governance and oversight. Full text.
The late show: Liberal JOHN FRASER has a special adjournment debate about advertising — er, as he put it: the PCs move to put out an “orgy of feel-good ads” instead of focusing on more important things, like access to a family doctor. He was cautioned by Speaker TED ARNOTT for that phrasing. Reminder: Such debates take place when an MPP isn’t satisfied with the government’s response to their questions (welcome to the club!).
MONDAY’S RUNDOWN
Tabled: Bill 223, the Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act, the omnibus package from Solicitor General MICHAEL KERZNER.
Killed I: Liberal STEPHANIE BOWMAN’s private member’s Bill 195, which would lower tax rates for small biz, did not survive the PC majority (Ayes 35…Nays 64).
Killed II: NDP Leader MARIT STILES’s motion calling on the PCs to implement a “new deal” for municipalities (Ayes 29…Nays 65). It’s something Stiles is pitching herself — read on for more.
ON THE COMMITTEE CIRCUIT
9 a.m.: Finance and Economic Affairs will get to committee business. Procedure and House Affairs is also dealing with committee business, behind closed doors.
Killed III: Surprise, surprise! The PCs wielded their majority to shut down the Liberals’ motion attempting to get the Auditor General to probe the home care supply issue.
COCKTAIL CHATTER
The Ontario Undergraduate and College Student Alliances is putting on a breakfast reception in Room 228. Later, Ontario Pork is serving up lunch and policy talk, then the Public Affairs Association of Canada will take over in the evening. Over in the Dining Room, the Chicken Farmers of Ontario are hosting.
CLIPPINGS
— THE BILL FOR BIKE LANES: Transportation Minister PRABMEET SARKARIA doesn’t believe the City of Toronto’s report that it will cost $48 million to remove certain bike lanes, noting that that’s double the price of installing them. PC MPPs at committee hearings for the corresponding Bill 212 backed him up.
While the province has already promised to foot the bill, Sarkaria couldn’t name a price of his own. The Canadian Press has the latest.
For whom the poll tolls: Meanwhile, bike lanes on Adelaide, Richmond and the Danforth may be on the chopping block next as DOUG FORD’s favourite pollster NICK KOUVALIS’s firm Campaign Research was reportedly in the field gauging how folks feel about potentially ripping them out. Regular readers will know: Campaign Research previously polled on the soon-to-be-gutted lanes on Bloor, Yonge and University.
The drama is making international headlines, including in The Guardian.
— NEW NEW DEAL: “The Ontario NDP is promising to meet the growing calls for change from municipalities if it wins the next election, pledging any government it leads would take responsibility for costs associated with things like housing, health care and transit.”
Platform planks, via Global News: “It would pay the vast majority of ambulance costs and cover 75 per cent of public health spending. An Ontario NDP government would also promise to pay 50 per cent of transit operating costs and take over all former provincially controlled highways.”
— DARLINGTON’S DONE: “Work is now complete on the refurbishment of Unit 1 at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, five months ahead of schedule.” It’s the third of four reactors to be refurbished. More from CBC.
— WAGE WARS: “Ontario’s new living wage numbers are out and the network says minimum wage still doesn’t cut it,” especially in cities like Toronto and Hamilton.
— PROCUREMENT PROBLEMS: “What we learned in Week 1 of a $300-million Toronto construction fraud trial… ‘Everybody knows’ that the rules get broken in major Ontario procurement processes.” The Star has more.
— SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR: “Education Minister JILL DUNLOP has met with representatives from YouTube and is hoping to soon speak to executives from other social media companies about what they are doing to help students’ mental health and well-being.” Dunlop — who announced $4.6 million for anti-bullying resources and supports — is hoping to talk to other social media giants TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram “about what they do to protect children and young people online.” Those platforms are the target of an $8-billion lawsuit brought by a dozen school boards. The Star has the story.
— WHAT NEW DEMOCRATS ARE READING: NDP strategist and fellow Substacker TOM PARKIN’s assessment of Liberal BONNIE CROMBIE’s middle-class tax cut: The somewhat-rich get richer.
— CROWD COUNTS: In Tory world, the Bonnie Bashing continues. To which the Grits reply: Why are you so obsessed with us?
QUESTION PERIOD
After a (relatively) quiet constit week break, QP was rowdy.
Hot heckles: MPPs threw jabs across the aisle about “NDP math” and “Tory math” when it comes to health funding, while Housing Minister PAUL CALANDRA raised the spectre of what could happen “when socialists take over the building of housing.” Turfed-Tory-turned-Independent GOLDIE GHAMARI also brought the fire (finally!) with a question about the school board that played an Arabic song for Remembrance Day, and “the woke leftist narrative.”
NDPer DOLY BEGUM wasn’t having that. “It’s a song about peace,” she said, pointing out that Ghamari “called me a terrorist in this House.”
THE HIGHLIGHTS: “How many people facing medical emergencies in small and rural communities have to go without care before this government changes course?” — “Move out of the way to let those of us with a real plan [to build homes] get the job done” — About that FAO report: “Ontario’s unemployment rate rose for the sixth consecutive quarter, reaching 6.9% in 2023 Q3” — “Ginoogaming First Nation is in a state of emergency. The bridge that is the main access into their community can no longer be used for vehicles” — “When 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor, how does the Premier justify spending millions and millions and millions of dollars on ads to tell everyone in Ontario, as he would say, that everything is just peachy-keen?” — “Why is the Conservative government allowing bad bosses to get away with stealing $60 million from Ontario’s workers?” — “Why is the Premier giving tax breaks to private investors when it means higher prices for consumers?” — “Make sure Ontarians are buying vehicles of the future that are made here.”
REGULATORY ROUNDUP
Every Tuesday, we sum up the government’s latest proposals on the Regulatory Registry — where the nitty-gritty of policymaking is hammered out.
CUT YOUR TEETH — The proposal: The College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario wants “to streamline registration requirements and standardize the administration of the entry to practice exam.” Deadline for public feedback: December 30.
PENSION PLAN — Proposal: The Ministry of Finance is looking for feedback about creating a framework for a new pension option, Variable Life Benefits. Deadline: January 10.
🍽️ LUNCH SPECIAL: Beef brisket with potatoes and vegetables is on tap in the basement cafeteria.
⏳ COUNTDOWN: T-minus 23 days until the winter recess.
Got a tip? Document to leak? Staffer on the move? I want to hear from you, and I’ll keep you anonymous. Reach out to sabrina@qpobserver.ca., or hit me up directly: