Legislation to shine light on cash-for-access fundraisers

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals introduced legislation Wednesday aimed at putting an end to the secrecy surrounding exclusive fundraisers featuring the prime minister, cabinet ministers, party leaders and leadership contenders.

But while such fundraisers would be more transparent, opposition critics said the bill doesn’t fix the problem of wealthy donors paying for preferential access to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers.

Indeed, the bill does not go as far as rules adopted earlier this year by the Liberal party after being roasted for months last fall for holding exclusive fundraisers in private homes, where wealthy individuals paid up to the maximum donation of $1,550 to rub shoulders with the prime minister or one of his ministers.

Whereas the party now requires events featuring Trudeau or a cabinet minister to be held in publicly accessible spaces and open to the media, the bill would still allow fundraisers to be held in private homes and does not require that reporters be allowed to cover the event.

The bill would require that such events, where the price of admission is a $200 donation or more, be advertised at least five days in advance, including the time and location of the fundraiser and contact information for anyone interested in attending.

However, it’s not clear how that would be of value to a member of the public who wanted to attend an event in a private home, where space would be strictly limited.

The bill also falls short of Trudeau’s instructions to Karina Gould when she was sworn in as democratic institutions minister in January. In her mandate letter, Trudeau instructed Gould to devise a law that would make fundraisers involving ministers, party leaders and leadership candidates more transparent, including requiring them to be conducted “in publicly available spaces.”