How low can the Ontario Liberals go? Just watch them

There is a world of difference between a local MPP hosting a few hundred constituents at a backyard fundraiser and the Premier having cocktails with a dozen corporate lobbyists.

Just a week ago, Ontario Attorney-General Yasir Naqvi was defending the latter in the name of the former, as if the Liberals’ cash-for access scheme, under which top ministers sold face time to a handful of deep-pocketed donors, was the same as a backbencher flipping burgers for a crowd. Banning cash-for-access fundraisers, he implied, would drain the baby with the bathwater.

Now, by suddenly proposing banning any MPP from attending any political fundraiser, Mr. Naqvi has further exposed the depths of Liberal cynicism. Equating a backbencher’s annual barbecue with the 150-odd cash-for-access fundraisers held by Kathleen Wynne and her senior ministers smears all politicians as crass influence peddlers...