There seems to be a great deal of animosity at Queen’s Park over the government’s fundraising legislation. Claims and counter-claims appear to be creating a tense atmosphere around the issue – but I think it’s time to move beyond the rivalry between the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail as to who “broke” the story.

I imagine that every member of the Legislature is privately happy with the legislation, particularly the government’s intention to introduce amendments banning politicians from attending fundraisers. Although the details are not yet clear, I imagine that every MPP is secretly hoping that the changes keep politicians as far away as possible from any personal involvement in raising funds, including having a role in selling tickets to events.

Why?

Well, as someone who spent many years actively raising funds as both an MPP and cabinet minister, I am going to let you in on a little secret – politicians hate fundraising. Yet, ironically, politicians were the ones usually called upon to do it. “You are your best fundraiser,” we were told over and over again.

The result was that I spent hour after hour working the phones (dialling for dollars as we used to call it), trying to flog a $200 ticket to a reception that no one really wanted to attend, with a cabinet minister that no one had ever heard of before. I got to hear every excuse under the sun as to why someone wouldn’t buy a ticket, and if I was really lucky, also got to hear about whatever policy slight the government had committed over the previous six months.

Yes, I also held big-ticket fundraisers and I did it for one simple reason. It was easier to sell a handful of tickets at $5,000 a pop than literally hundreds at $200. But, here again, there was nothing easy about nervously asking someone who you either barely knew, or had already hit up before, to shell out thousands of dollars for tiny canapés, mediocre wine and awkward conversation. Appeals often accompanied by the same humiliating feeling that I had in the ninth grade when I called that cute girl, who barely knew I existed, to ask her to the big dance – often with a similar result.

And as an aside, despite media portrayals to the contrary, there was nothing particularly secret about these events. It’s hard to “secretly” approach dozens and dozens of people to flog big-dollar tickets. In fact, I remember when the Opposition found out about a large-dollar fundraiser I was hosting. Did they mount the barricades and publicly accuse me of engaging in political shenanigans? No, they approached the same donors to try to sell them tickets to their own over-priced event.

I support the government’s efforts to curb fundraising but isn’t it time to go the whole distance? Let’s stop the insanity. Let’s end political fundraising in Ontario and have the entire system operate through a system of public subsidies. And if we want to control the total amount of these subsidies, let’s further reduce the spending limits on campaigns. I am sure that no voter will complain if they get less literature at the door or hear fewer campaign ads. In fact, what about banning political advertising on TV and radio like they do in Britain?

I am totally serious. There is nothing pretty about political fundraising. It wastes time, creates awkward relationships and appears unseemly to the public.

Although I fully support lowering donation limits and banning corporate and union donations, these steps are far from foolproof. There are always ways to legally skirt the rules by having groups of individuals representing a particular interest “bundle” their personal donations together to create an above-limit donation from a banned group.

Focusing on small donations via the Internet is also not the solution. Read any typical e-mail solicitation from a political party. Most are tied to a current controversy or policy position. Do we really want a world where political parties are constantly measuring their actions and decisions against their potential to raise money through an e-mail blitz?

And to those who argue against taxpayer dollars being used to subsidize political parties, I say it’s been happening for years. Through extremely generous tax credits, donors are reimbursed a big part of their donation through the tax system and candidates who receive a certain percentage of the vote also receive a rebate from the government.

I never saw anyone successfully purchase direct influence on a government decision through a political donation. What I did see, however, were countless situations where politicians had to make tough decisions despite opposition from every corner. Knowing that this decision was also going to anger your donor base made the situation all the more difficult.

Ending political fundraising might be a radical step but who knows, by actually removing this burden from the shoulders of politicians, we might end up with better public policy.

John Milloy is a former MPP and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister currently serving as the co-director of the Centre for Public Ethics and assistant professor of public ethics at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, and the inaugural practitioner in residence in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science department. He is also a lecturer in the University of Waterloo’s Master of Public Service Program. John can be reached at jmilloy@wlu.ca or follow him on Twitter @John_Milloy

Milloy: Let’s stop the insanity and end political fundraising altogether

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