TORONTO— The Ontario NDP says it cancelled a fundraiser planned for this past weekend that promised top donors a private audience with leader Andrea Horwath.

The NDP event, scheduled for March 23, was going to give attendees levels of access and a staggered start-time based on how much money people spent on their ticket.

The top tier $800 ticket came with an extra hour of time with a private reception with Horwath and an open bar from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Those spending $100 or $250 on their tickets were allowed entrance after 7 p.m. and no open bar.

The Progressive Conservatives criticized the party and Horwath for hosting such a event after she repeatedly criticized a fundraiser for Premier Doug Ford last month as an example of “cash for access.” Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said just like the Tory event, the one hosted by the NDP would have also been “cash for access.”

Over the past two weeks, Horwath has consistently defended the event, arguing it did not run afoul of any fundraising rules.

“The rules of the legislature are as they are,” she said on Tuesday. “We provide tickets, we show up and we enjoy the time.”

After the party told iPolitics the $800 tickets were cancelled, Horwath said Wednesday the change was made because otherwise people who didn’t pay the higher amount would have had to wait around outside, having just spent the day together at the party’s provincial council meeting.

“It seemed a bit funny, a bit awkward,” Horwath said.

She repeatedly ignored questions about whether her party would hold future fundraisers where preferential treatment is given to those who pay more.

The party says it made the decision to cancel the $800 tickets on March 19 — that information was not given to iPolitics when it asked Horwath about the event last week.

In February, the Progressive Conservatives raised $4 million at a single fundraiser where the party charged $1250 per ticket.

The Toronto Star and Globe and Mail both reported that lobbyists were pressured to attend the fundraiser and sell tickets — or risk losing access to the government.

Horwath said those allegations are what made the February fundraiser problematic for the NDP, but the Tories say the opposition leader is speaking out of both sides of her mouth on the issue.

“It is very hypocritical of the NDP to criticize us for having a big fundraising dinner and then announce a week later that they’re doing the same thing,” Government House Leader Todd Smith said Wednesday.

Green Party wants stricter limits on paid events

Last fall the Progressive Conservatives changed fundraising rules to allow politicians to again attend paid-events. That had been banned by the previous Liberal government after a cash for access controversy of its own.

Schreiner argues that now that politicians are again allowed at events the upper limit on ticket-pricing should be in the range of what he says the average voter can afford.

[READ MORE: Ford government reopens door to cash-for-access fundraising]

“All of these high-ticketed events are cash for access so that’s why we should get rid of them,” Schreiner said.

“The fact that whether you’re paying $800 or $1250 or $1600, those kinds of events are inappropriate.”

He said parties should instead have an entrance fee that is affordable and then ask people who can to pay more once they’re at the event.

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