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Ontario is the Central Canadian province that remains the Wild West of political fundraising in this country.

Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press

Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins speaks as Premier Kathleen Wynne looks on last year.

Can’t get an appointment to see Ontario’s most powerful doctor?

Not a problem. Follow the money — and pay up.

For a cool $1,000, the main lobby group for Ontario’s long-term care operators is offering special access to the province’s minister of health and long-term care — an “exclusive event” with Dr. Eric Hoskins, who controls a $52-billion budget.

What does a $1,000 ticket buy you?

“Quality time with Minister Hoskins” and “face time,” according to an invitation from the Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA), which represents most big operators of private and publicly funded nursing homes and similar facilities.

Long-term care is big business. Money politics is also big business in this province — a place where time is money, and a minister’s time is worth a lot of money.

That’s how it still works in Ontario, the Central Canadian province that remains the Wild West of fundraising in this country.

The Hoskins event is a reminder that without any rules to ban corporate and union contributions, all three parties keep cashing in on the desire of powerful interests to influence the party in power. In between elections, the governing party profits most; but just ahead of elections, when companies and unions hedge their bets, the opposition parties also get their take.

The invitation, shared with me by a recipient, shows the Feb. 24 fundraiser is being jointly organized by the OLTCA (which is promoting the event) and the Liberal Party (which is processing the funds — “payable to the Ontario Liberal Fund”).

Billed as “an unprecedented opportunity ... only for OLTCA members,” it promises ticket buyers the chance to “discuss the sector with the Minister, up close and personal.”

The CEO of the long-term care association, Candace Chartier, says this is the second time her group has rounded up about two dozen members at $1,000 a head for face time. Last year it was with Hoskins’ predecessor, Deb Matthews, then the Liberal campaign co-chair.

The payoff? “A better chance of really connecting,” she explains, compared to bigger events where you can’t count on getting the minister’s ear.

Hoskins and Matthews are hardly the first to command a premium price for access. The big money will keep flowing until someone calls out the politicians from all three parties:

In 2013, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli — much sought after by high rollers because of his big money portfolio — joined Premier Kathleen Wynne at the Four Seasons Hotel for a $100,000 private dinner hosted by Bruce Power, attended by major union and corporate players in the nuclear sector.

Without strict rules, the money comes in all shapes and sizes, depending on how keen vested interests are to shape public policy:

As detailed in a December column, the Beer Store and the three big foreign-owned brewers that control it — Labatt, Molson Coors and Sleeman — have donated more than $385,000 to the three main parties over the past two years. The UFCW, whose members include the Beer Store’s 6,000 unionized workers, has contributed $140,000 to the governing Liberals and opposition New Democrats.

Construction giant EllisDon, its subsidiaries and executives contributed more than $200,000 in 2012 and 2013 to the Liberals and PCs at the very time it sought help from MPPs on a sticky legislative matter.

More recently, the front-runner in the Progressive Conservative leadership race, Christine Elliott, accepted a record donation of $100,000 from 24-year-old Adam Moryto, a former party intern whose grandfather founded Ram Forest Products. Bizarrely, there is no limit to the amount you can donate to a possible future premier of Ontario in a leadership contest, but should we really leave ourselves open to high rollers having politicians so heavily in their debt down the road?

Current laws allow an Ontario resident, corporation or union to contribute up to $9,975 to a central party in any year and an additional $9,975 in an election year, plus $6,650 annually to riding associations, and a further $6,650 to candidates. Factor in a few family members or corporate sisters to spread the cash around, and the contribution limits become a joke.

Federally, it’s much simpler. Former prime minister Jean Chrétien first introduced limits for companies and unions, and Stephen Harper eliminated them entirely. Our current prime minister has it right, while our premier has it wrong.

When you add it all up, there is an unmistakable stench wafting over Ontario politics. But it goes far beyond the latest whiff of scandal from Sudbury’s smokestacks after a byelection patronage furor that had the OPP on the trail last week.

When police view our crude political code through the lens of our criminal code, anything is possible. But a one-off police probe, made possible by fortuitous tape recordings, won’t end patronage politics. The political wheeling and wheedling and dealing will continue behind closed doors.

If we really want to clean up the lingering odour in Ontario, we need to follow the big money. And ban it.

Martin Regg Cohn’s Ontario politics column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/02/11/how-to-clean-up-the-inconvenient-stench-in-ontario-politics-cohn.html