OTTAWA—The federal Liberals are vowing to pull back the curtain on private fundraisers that pump tens of thousands of dollars into party coffers.
On a day when Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould announced that Liberals were abandoning Trudeau’s pledge to reform Canada’s voting system, the minister vowed to move ahead with changes on another front that has caused them political headaches.
The prime minister and several senior cabinet ministers have come under fire in recent months over private party fundraisers that charge supporters up to $1,500 a head.
Liberal MPs have defended the events, saying that they fall within the rules. But the party has clamped down on information about these exclusive invitation-only events, declining to confirm the locations or guest list.
Opposition politicians have accused the Liberals of trading cash for access. Before Christmas, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose asked the federal lobbying and ethics watchdogs to take a look at the Onwin fundraisers.
The Liberals have felt the heat and on Wednesday Gould confirmed new legislation was coming to reform fundraising practices in a way that would touch all parties, a change the government first signaled last week.
“We believe Canadians have a right to know even more than they do now about political fundraising and we are taking action,” Gould told reporters on Parliament Hill.
She said the new law would make political fundraising “more open and transparent.” It would apply to events attended by the prime minister, cabinet ministers, party leaders and leadership candidates.
Under the changes, the fundraising events could not be private, would have to be publicly advertised in advance and open to anyone who wishes to contribute.
“Political parties and leadership campaigns will be required to promptly and publicly disclose information about the event after it occurs,” said Gould, the MP for Burlington.
The proposed changes don’t go far enough for NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice who tabled his own bill to ban preferential access to cabinet ministers and the prime minister at private fundraisers.
“Making their VIP fundraising events public will do nothing to prevent the wealthiest members of our society from buying access to the prime minister and his ministers,” Boulerice, the NDP’s ethics critic, said in a statement.
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