Fedeli casts doubt on commitment to fundraising reforms
April 5, 2016QUEEN’S PARK – Vic Fedeli, Nipissing MPP, questioned Finance Minister Charles Sousa today over his apparent indifference to the need for reforms to political fundraising and third-party advertising rules in Ontario.
“Based on the Minister’s comments last week, and the Premier’s new agenda, I can see why he was squirming,” Fedeli said in Question Period, after receiving a very vague response from Sousa yesterday.
“The Globe and Mail headline last week screamed ‘Sousa defends secret fundraiser as ‘part of democratic process.’ Now that he’s been called out publicly, his tune is suddenly different,” continued Fedeli.
“Where in the Minister’s mandate letter does it state that part of his job requirement is to raise $500,000 a year for the (governing) party?”
Fedeli also pointed to quotes from Sousa that appeared in the Globe and the Toronto Star stating “It’s not something that I have been concerned about,” and “I don’t worry about fundraising.”
“Really, Minister? No concern about organizing a secret $7,500-a-plate fundraiser last year in which the banks that profited from the privatization of Hydro One helped him raise about $165,000?” pressed Fedeli, who noted executives representing several financial services firms that were part of the Hydro One syndicate were at the fundraiser according to emails obtained by the Globe.
“Is the Minister really going to stand there and insist that Cabinet access hasn’t been sold through the Ministry of Finance?”
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