An all-party committee hearing looking at corporate and union donations to Ontario’s political parties, won’t make it north. Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli says it’s because not enough people showed an interest and others simply weren’t aware of the issue. Fedeli says the Ontario Liberals set the hearings in motion to divert attention away from another scandal – this one involving donations.
Fedeli says Northerners can still appear at the hearings, but it will have to be in the south. He says they are the result of the Liberals getting caught in yet another scandal. Cabinet ministers and the Premier met privately with certain sectors and shortly afterward, these groups got government contracts. The meetings involved political donations and Fedeli says this created a perception of impropriety. Fedeli says the ploy, which has become known as pay to play, only became evident over a period of time, when you start to match donors and contracts.
Fedeli says the scheme has raked in millions of dollars for the Liberals which the party can use in the 2018 election.
(Written by: Rocco Frangione)