Finance

Friday August 26, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Friday August 26, 2016 Ontario Liberals wonÕt ban cash-for-access events OntarioÕs Liberal government has bowed to public and opposition pressure to tighten caps further on political donations, but is still not banning cash-for-access fundraising. Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi on Monday released proposed amendments to Bill 201, the LiberalsÕ campaign-finance reform legislation. TheÊbill is under review by a legislative committee, which has been holding public hearings for the past two months. The changes include a $3,600 limit per donor Ð divided among the central party office, riding associations and individual candidates Ð in a year withÊan election or by-election, or $2,400 in a year without either. Currently, donors can contribute up to $33,250 annually; the original text of the billÊwould have brought that down to $7,750 in a year with an election or by-election. But the Liberals opted not to make cash-for-access illegal, allowing the controversial fundraising practice that started the furor over campaign financeÊto continue. Instead of a legislated ban, Mr. NaqviÕs office said he will consult the opposition parties on a code of conduct for MPPs that would offerÊguidelines for raising money from stakeholders. The government turned down an interview request for Mr. Naqvi. His spokesman, Kyle Richardson, refused to answer questions directly on why theÊLiberals are not prohibiting cash-for-access. ÒGovernment amendments are based on the feedback heard at public hearings held across Ontario. We are committed to working with theÊopposition,Ó Mr. Richardson wrote in an e-mail. Under the cash-for-access system, revealed by The Globe and Mail this spring, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals paid up to $10,000 forÊaccess to Premier Kathleen Wynne and members of her cabinet, typically over cocktails and dinner. At most events, corporate and union leaders in aÊgiven sector Ð including const

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 26, 2016

Ontario Liberals won’t ban cash-for-access events

Ontario’s Liberal government has bowed to public and opposition pressure to tighten caps further on political donations, but is still not banning cash-for-access fundraising.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Wednesday March 30, 2016 Ontario, the Wild West of Political fundraising Kathleen WynneÕs Liberals will rake in roughly $3 million in a single fundraiser Wednesday night. At their sumptuous Heritage Dinner, ÒVictory TablesÓ are priced at $18,000 for corporate high-flyers, and the biggest donors are feted at a private cocktail reception by a grateful premier. But thatÕs only half the story of how the governing party raises big money. In Ontario, the Wild West of fundraising, cabinet ministers are assigned secret targets as high as $500,000 a year, the Star has learned. The unsavoury spectacle of OntarioÕs politicians supplicating big business and big labour for events such as the Heritage Dinner is only a small piece of the fundraising puzzle glimpsed by the public. Beyond the showy hobnobbing, shadowy appeals by cabinet ministers for corporate money are the untold story at QueenÕs Park. Corporate and union contributions that Wynne persists in publicly defending create a demonstrable conflict of interest for cabinet ministers, which is why they were banned for federal parties in 2006, and are no longer legal in four other provinces. And yet, according to multiple sources, top cabinet ministers at QueenÕs Park are given financial targets that are typically in the range of $250,000 annually Ñ double that amount in some cases. These quasi-quotas are never written down, conveyed instead by the Ontario Liberal Fund through confidential meetings and phone calls. They are the price of admission to power, revealed here for the first time, and they are astonishingly high. The two most marketable ministers are Charles Sousa, the minister of finance, and Eric Hoskins, who helms the provinceÕs $52-billion health care budget. Both are expected to bring in as much as $500,000 a year, well-placed sources have confirmed. SousaÕs control of the provincial treasury, tax policy and auto insurance makes him a prime t

March 30, 2016

Government House Leader Yasir Naqvi on Monday released proposed amendments to Bill 201, the Liberals’ campaign-finance reform legislation. The bill is under review by a legislative committee, which has been holding public hearings for the past two months.

The changes include a $3,600 limit per donor – divided among the central party office, riding associations and individual candidates – in a year with an election or by-election, or $2,400 in a year without either. Currently, donors can contribute up to $33,250 annually; the original text of the bill would have brought that down to $7,750 in a year with an election or by-election.

But the Liberals opted not to make cash-for-access illegal, allowing the controversial fundraising practice that started the furor over campaign finance to continue. Instead of a legislated ban, Mr. Naqvi’s office said he will consult the opposition parties on a code of conduct for MPPs that would offer guidelines for raising money from stakeholders.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð

April 7, 2016

The government turned down an interview request for Mr. Naqvi. His spokesman, Kyle Richardson, refused to answer questions directly on why the Liberals are not prohibiting cash-for-access.

“Government amendments are based on the feedback heard at public hearings held across Ontario. We are committed to working with the opposition,” Mr. Richardson wrote in an e-mail.

Under the cash-for-access system, revealed by The Globe and Mail this spring, corporations, unions and wealthy individuals paid up to $10,000 for access to Premier Kathleen Wynne and members of her cabinet, typically over cocktails and dinner. At most events, corporate and union leaders in a given sector – including construction, finance, insurance and pharmaceuticals – gave money to spend time with the cabinet minister responsible for making policy decisions and handing out contracts in the donors’ industry. (Source: Globe & Mail)

 

Wednesday April 6, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Wednesday April 6, 2016 Panama Papers: Document leak exposes global corruption, secrets of the rich The financial secrets of heads of state, athletes, billionaires and drug lords have been exposed in the latest Ñ and biggest ever Ñ leak of records from an offshore tax haven. The leak includes 11.5 million confidential documents shedding light on the assets and murky fiscal dealings of everyone from the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan to soccer player Leo Messi, movie star Jackie Chan and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The records, dating as far back as 1977, come from a little-known but highly influential Panama-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca, which has 500 staff working in 40-plus countries. The firm is one of the world's top creators of shell companies Ñ corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets. German newspaper SŸddeutsche Zeitung obtained the files from a source and shared them with global media partners, including CBC News and the Toronto Star, through the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. CBC News will be exploring more of what's in the documents, including Canadian connections, in a series of stories this week. "These findings show how deeply ingrained harmful practices and criminality are in the offshore world," said Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley and author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens. Zucman, who was briefed on the media partners' investigation, said the release of the leaked documents should prompt governments to seek "concrete sanctions" against jurisdictions and institutions that peddle offshore secrecy. While offshore accounts are not in themselves illegal, the leaked records show they are often used to shield illicit dealings. In a written response to questions from the media consortium, Mossack Fonseca said it "do

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 6, 2016

Panama Papers: Document leak exposes global corruption, secrets of the rich

The financial secrets of heads of state, athletes, billionaires and drug lords have been exposed in the latest — and biggest ever — leak of records from an offshore tax haven.

The leak includes 11.5 million confidential documents shedding light on the assets and murky fiscal dealings of everyone from the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan to soccer player Leo Messi, movie star Jackie Chan and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The records, dating as far back as 1977, come from a little-known but highly influential Panama-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca, which has 500 staff working in 40-plus countries. The firm is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies — corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets.

German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung obtained the files from a source and shared them with global media partners, including CBC News and the Toronto Star, through the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

CBC News will be exploring more of what’s in the documents, including Canadian connections, in a series of stories this week.

“These findings show how deeply ingrained harmful practices and criminality are in the offshore world,” said Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley and author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens.

Zucman, who was briefed on the media partners’ investigation, said the release of the leaked documents should prompt governments to seek “concrete sanctions” against jurisdictions and institutions that peddle offshore secrecy.

While offshore accounts are not in themselves illegal, the leaked records show they are often used to shield illicit dealings.

In a written response to questions from the media consortium, Mossack Fonseca said it “does not foster or promote illegal acts.”

“Your allegations that we provide shareholders with structures supposedly designed to hide the identity of the real owners are completely unsupported and false,” the firm said. (Source: CBC News)

 

Friday September 11, 2015

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Friday September 11, 2015 Hamilton looks to crack down on payday loan industry Hamilton councillors unanimously approved a motion seeking from the province the ability to limit the locations of payday loan and cheque cashing outlets, while also strengthening the Payday Loans Act. ÒThis is predatory economic violence,Ó said Ward 3 councillor Matthew Green, who introduced the motion at councilÕs Sept. 9 meeting. Ò(They) are targeting our most vulnerable, indebted people. ItÕs legalized loan sharking.Ó GreenÕs motion targeting the industry, which was revealed earlier this summer, includes forcing these businesses to post their rates on their walls, provide information about debt counselling, and having Hamilton staff identify all the payday loan businesses in the city. Also contained in the motion was a request to the province to toughen the Payday Loans Act. The act regulates the industry allowing outlets to charge $21 for every $100 people borrow. Green says desperate people use these businesses, and they end up having to go to another payday loans outlet to pay the loan of the first one. ÒThis is usury, this is criminal,Ó said Green. ÒIÕd love to see (the places) outlawed.Ó Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, says municipalities need the power to regulate a business that is taking advantage of vulnerable people. ÒWe deem the industry as predatory in nature because its practices and slick marketing campaigns lure vulnerable consumers into transactions where there is nowhere else to turn in a financial crisis,Ó said Cooper. Based on the payday industryÕs own information, for every new customer loan, 15 are repeats, said Cooper. Stan Keyes, president of the Canadian Payday Loan Association, headquartered in Hamilton, stated in an email letter sent to councillors Sept. 8 that Òcouncil should not pass bylaws to ban industries providing services that consumers d

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday September 11, 2015

Hamilton looks to crack down on payday loan industry

Hamilton councillors unanimously approved a motion seeking from the province the ability to limit the locations of payday loan and cheque cashing outlets, while also strengthening the Payday Loans Act.

Friday July 26, 2013“This is predatory economic violence,” said Ward 3 councillor Matthew Green, who introduced the motion at council’s Sept. 9 meeting. “(They) are targeting our most vulnerable, indebted people. It’s legalized loan sharking.”
Green’s motion targeting the industry, which was revealed earlier this summer, includes forcing these businesses to post their rates on their walls, provide information about debt counselling, and having Hamilton staff identify all the payday loan businesses in the city.

Also contained in the motion was a request to the province to toughen the Payday Loans Act.

The act regulates the industry allowing outlets to charge $21 for every $100 people borrow. Green says desperate people use these businesses, and they end up having to go to another payday loans outlet to pay the loan of the first one.

Saturday, December 6, 2014“This is usury, this is criminal,” said Green. “I’d love to see (the places) outlawed.”

Tom Cooper, director of the Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction, says municipalities need the power to regulate a business that is taking advantage of vulnerable people.

“We deem the industry as predatory in nature because its practices and slick marketing campaigns lure vulnerable consumers into transactions where there is nowhere else to turn in a financial crisis,” said Cooper.

Based on the payday industry’s own information, for every new customer loan, 15 are repeats, said Cooper.

Stan Keyes, president of the Canadian Payday Loan Association, headquartered in Hamilton, stated in an email letter sent to councillors Sept. 8 that “council should not pass bylaws to ban industries providing services that consumers demand.”

He said the province does enforce the existing regulations, including levying fines, and revoking licenses “which they have done with non-compliant lenders.”

Keyes, a former Liberal MP, stated the industry is already heavily regulated since 2009. In 2012 there were 42 outlets in Hamilton, now there are 34. (Source: Hamilton Spectator)

 

Thursday April 23, 2015

Thursday April 23, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 23, 2015

Federal Budget Offers ‘Crumbs’ For Transit Needs: Ontario Finance Minister

Ontario’s Liberals were quick to express disappointment Tuesday at the federal budget, saying the money Ottawa is promising for transit projects amounts to “crumbs” compared to the needs of Canada’s largest province.

“When it comes to transit, they’ve kind of missed the train, and they’re not even in the station,” Finance Minister Charles Sousa said shortly after his federal counterpart introduced the budget in the House of Commons.

The federal budget promises a new infrastructure fund that allocates $750 million over two years, followed by $1 billion a year “ongoing thereafter.”

“The amount that’s being brought forward, frankly, is only crumbs of what we need,” Sousa said.

The Liberal government has pledged to spend $130 billion on infrastructure over 10 years, $31 billion of which will go toward transit infrastructure.

The province has been calling on the federal Conservatives to match its infrastructure investment, but Ottawa’s election-year budget provides only a “small step in the right direction,” said Sousa.

The new fund doesn’t kick in until 2017-18 — the same year the provincial Liberals have promised to eliminate Ontario’s $10.9-billion deficit.

After the initial two years of the transit program the money will rise to $1 billion a year, “ongoing thereafter,” to help finance public-private partnerships, or P3s, to pay for projects and upgrades with a combination of public and private investment. (Source: Huffington Post)

Wednesday, February 12, 2015

Wednesday, February 12, 2015Editorial cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, February 12, 2015

Deb Matthews rules out ‘across-the-board cuts’ in Ontario

Cuts are coming, but it’s too soon to say where or how deep.

That was the underlying message from Treasury Board President Deb Matthews as she launched the cash-strapped provincial government’s austerity push.

Thursday, November 20 2014“We’re not going to do it by making across-the-board cuts,” Matthews said Monday in a speech to the Economic Club of Toronto at the Hilton Hotel.

“That approach assumes that every dollar we spend is equally effective — and that’s a false assumption,” she said, mindful Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals face a $12.5-billion deficit.

“We are going to do it by doing government differently. By focusing on outcomes and rigorous evidence, by enabling transformation, by streamlining access to services and by using technology to drive better value.”

But Matthews warned that “some of what we have to do will be very difficult both for people within government and for many of service-delivery partners.”

Friday, December 13, 2013“I know there will be noise about some of the transformations we undertake.”

Her comments came as a smattering of Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union protesters rallied outside the Hilton.

Matthews again signalled to public servants that “there is no new funding for any compensation increases.

“That doesn’t mean no modest wage increases, but it does mean that any wage increase must be offset. What we call a ‘net zero,’” she said.

Speaking with the media afterward, Matthews repeatedly ducked questions over how many public-service jobs would be cut as the government tightens its belt.

“It’s not a simple question,” she said as reporters reminded her Wynne’s Liberals won last June’s election largely by demonizing former Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak’s pledge to eliminate 100,000 public-service positions. (Source: Toronto Star)