Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers have been given minimum targets for fundraisers in 2024, Global News has learned, as the party pivots for a potential early election next spring.
Days after the party’s late-summer caucus retreat in Blue Mountain, chiefs of staff in the Ford government received an email from the PC party’s fundraiser outlining the expectation for a donations blitz during the fall and winter months.
The early September memo, obtained by Global News, was sent by Tony Miele, the chair of the Ontario PC Party fund, to the official government emails used by chiefs of staff to Ford’s ministers.
“Hello cabinet ministers,” the email begins. ” It was great seeing you last week at the Caucus retreat.”
“I want to reiterate the importance that we need to be ready and fully funded for the next campaign,” the email states.
The Miele memo then prescribed exactly what’s expected of cabinet ministers as the party looks to raise the millions of dollars required to fight an election campaign. Political parties expect to spend big on advertising, campaign materials, the leader’s tour, voter outreach and polling.
“We need your help in organizing a minimum of 2 – 5 fundraisers each by the end of the year,” Miele said. “These events can be small breakfast events, lunch events or larger reception style dinner events.”
Cabinet ministers were instructed to submit a fundraising plan to the party by Sept. 20, which Miele said he would then personally “review and approve.”
“We will need each one of you to get going on this right away,” Miele said.
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The plea to ministers was sent as the party saw a dip in donations in the wake of the 2023 Greenbelt scandal. The latest fundraising numbers show the PCs pulled in $6.5 million in 2024 compared to $8.2 million in 2023.
Recently, the Ford government also extended the per-vote subsidy which gives parties 63 cents per ballot cast for their party. While the taxpayer-fueled funding was supposed to end in 2025, the government extended the subsidy until 2027, giving the PC party an additional $4.9 million a year to bolster sluggish private fundraising numbers.
Cabinet ministers appeared to immediately fall in line with Miele’s demand, hosting dozens of fundraisers since the September email raking thousands of dollars into the party coffers.
The month the email was sent, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery of Ontario Todd McCarthy hosted an evening event in support of the Durham Riding Association at $975 per person. Another example saw Energy Minister Stephen Lecce and Auto Theft Minister Graham McGregor headline a $500 per person event for the Brampton North Riding Association.
The pattern continues through the fall, as the party has kept its fundraising up.
Between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21, the following ministers were all scheduled to host fundraisers, with varying ticket prices:
- Rob Flack, Agriculture ($300)
- Jill Dunlop, Education ($1,000)
- Steven Lecce, Energy ($1,000)
- Sylvia Jones, Health ($500)
- Greg Rickford, Indigenous Affairs ($250)
- Todd McCarthy, Public and Business Service Delivery ($250)
- Prabmeet Sarkaria, Transportation ($1,000)
But the email also bears the hallmarks of a Liberal-era scandal in which cabinet ministers were given fundraising quotas in 2016 — an event that ultimately led to the overhaul of fundraising rules.
At the time, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives peppered the Liberals with criticism over cash-for-access fundraisers claiming the government had “milked” stakeholders for donations.
“The fundamental problem here, I can’t stress this enough, is that ministers should not be fundraising off stakeholders within their departments,” said then-PC Party leader Patrick Brown.
“The crux of the problem is that donors are feeling that to have the ear of the government that any group has to donate to the Liberal Party.”
Ford has faced similar criticism from his political rivals who argue that the government’s policy overly favours party donors.
“Why is it that when it comes to lobbyists and insiders and Conservative donors, the answer is always yes, but when it comes to the basic needs of Ontarians, this Premier always says no?” NDP Leader Marit Stiles recently charged in the Ontario legislature.
Government insiders also told Global News that the email was highly unusual considering the strict rules provincial employees are expected to follow that forbids the mixing of government and party business.
A spokesperson for the Premier’s Office said the email was sent by mistake.
“The email was sent to government addresses in error,” they said. “As soon as the mistake was realized, it was rescinded, and staff were instructed not to open, read, or respond. Anything related to party business is done outside of government time.”
Using freedom of information laws, Global News attempted to retrieve the email from several chiefs of staff in the Ford government with little success.
Some reported that there were no records, while another denied the request claiming the three pages containing the email on government servers were related “to political business activities rather than government business operations” and therefore wouldn’t be disclosed.
Premier Doug Ford has been coy about the timing of the next provincial election – currently scheduled for June 2026 – amid rampant speculation that his government is preparing to head to the polls early.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
