MakeHimAnOffer
HeCan'tRefuseVilleFrom Robert Benzie, writing in the
Toronto Star:Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives have quietly held the largest political fundraiser in Canadian history, bringing in a staggering $6 million.
Quietly, because even though more than 4,000 people paid $1,500 apiece to attend Thursday’s sold-out event at the Toronto Congress Centre in Etobicoke, it was closed to the media...
{snip}
...Attendees on Thursday night, speaking confidentially in order to freely discuss what they saw, said it was a coterie of elected officials, lobbyists, developers, union leaders, political staffers, lawyers and assorted other hangers-on.
“Wow, what a room, what a crowd. The energy in here is absolutely amazing. I’m told that we have over 4,000 people here tonight. It’s truly remarkable — and make no mistake, this is a dinner to celebrate all of Ontario,” the premier told the assembled throng...
And if there were members of the coterie from 'all' of Ontario that were a little concerned that their constituencies, members, and/or customer bases might not like to see them cosying up to Doug Ford on bended knee?
No problem, the once and future label maker, has taken care of that also:
...Under previous Progressive Conservative, Liberal and NDP premiers, such partisan fundraising events were open to the media, but Ford’s office controversially ended that tradition in 2019.
That was after the Star had revealed four years ago that lobbyists had been enlisted to sell tickets...
Hmmmm...
Didn't the good premier's men also strong arm select members of that very same coterie into attending a party to help pay for a certain family member's wedding not long ago?
...(Ontario's Integrity) The commissioner determined that since the premier said he had “no knowledge of gifts” and that there was “no discussion of government business,” Ford was in the clear...
Gosh.
I guess ring kissing isn't part of the integrity commissioner's purview.
.