Premier Kathleen Wynne and her cabinet ministers are cancelling all “private fundraisers” with high rollers and urging their political rivals to do the same.

Wynne told the legislature on Tuesday that members of the governing party would no longer attend the unpublicized events which raise money for the Ontario Liberal Party.

“We have to lead by example and that’s why I’ve made the decision to immediately cancel upcoming private fundraisers that I attend. I’ve also asked the same of my ministers,” the premier said.

Wynne was referring to the invitation-only fundraisers that are rarely advertised and are not public events such as last Wednesday’s Heritage Dinner, which raised $2.5 million for the Liberals, or the Progressive Conservative’s $1,500-a-plate Toronto Leaders’ Dinner on May 18.

The premier’s about-face comes as her government is preparing new legislation this spring to clamp down on Ontario’s lax political fundraising rules in the wake of a Toronto Star probe.

As first revealed by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn last week, Liberal cabinet members, including Finance Minister Charles Sousa, have secret annual party fundraising targets of up to $500,000 apiece.

Sousa said he and his ministerial colleagues would stop such private activities immediately. Nor will ministers fundraise from their direct stakeholders going forward. A number of events are now being scrapped.

“We ask the members of the opposition to stop their fundraisers as well, as the premier is doing right now,” the treasurer said.

But Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown, who, as the Star disclosed Tuesday, is hosting his own high-priced dinner at the posh Albany Club for 10 supporters at $10,000 a head later this month, said he won’t cancel his private events.

“This is just them muddying the waters,” the Tory leader said of the Liberal gambit, noting there is no quid pro quo with his donors because he is in opposition, not government.

“I can’t give out 10 cents in contracts; this is the government seeking donations from the same people they’re giving contracts out to,” he said.

“What is at the crux of this matter is that Liberal cabinet ministers have fundraising targets that shocked everyone.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she has no intention of changing how her party fundraises until new rules are in place.

“We are going to continue to fundraise in the province of Ontario under the current rules — absolutely,” said Horwath, who hosted a $9,975-a-ticket Ontario NDP fundraiser with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in February.

Legislation reforming Ontario’s loose political fundraising rules will be tabled before the house rises for the summer break June 2, which the NDP leader warned may be too hasty.

“The last thing that Ontarians want to see is Kathleen Wynne use her majority to ram something through this house that benefits the Liberal party,” she said.

In the coming days, Wynne will hold separate one-on-one meetings with Brown and Horwath to discuss the reforms coming later this spring. Green Leader Mike Schreiner, whose party has no seats in the house, is also seeking an audience with the premier on the issue.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Against the backdrop of those meetings, legislation will be crafted that Wynne said will outlaw corporate and union donations to political parties and would reduce the amount individuals can donate.

That would lower the $9,975 annual cap on contributions and close the loopholes that allow donors to give much more than that during byelections and party leadership campaigns.

At the same time, sources say so-called third-party advertising — usually union-funded attack ads against the Conservatives that help the Liberals and New Democrats — will be limited, but not necessarily banned.

Recap of events:

October 2011: At the height of a provincial election campaign, Robert MacDermid, an associate professor of politics at York University, issues a 28-page study urging a ban on corporate donations to political parties. Then-premier Dalton McGuinty insists “we’ve got a great system here.”

September 2013: The Star reveals the head of privately owned Bruce Power hosted an exclusive $100,000 fundraiser for the Liberals shortly before Premier Kathleen Wynne shelved publicly owned rival Ontario Power Generation’s new nuclear reactors. (The Globe and Mail reported on a similar event last month.)

October 2013: The Star discovers that the Progressive Conservatives hoped to court a major construction company that had already donated significantly to political parties by pushing a legislative agenda helping the firm.

December 2014: The Star finds that more than $525,000 was donated to the three major political parties by the Beer Store, its foreign owners, and the union representing brewing industry employees in 2013 and 2014.

February 2015: The Star discloses that Ontario Long Term Care Association, a lobby group for long-term care home operators, hosted a $1,000-a-ticket “exclusive event” with Health Minister Eric Hoskins.

Mar. 29, 2016: The Star exposes the fact the Liberals have secret annual party fundraising targets for key cabinet ministers of up to $500,000 apiece. Wynne promises to make changes the same day the story is published. She said legislation will come this fall.

April 4, 2016: Wynne expedites the new rules, promising the current lax regime will be changed within 60 days.

Read more about: