The real fundraising numbers

And Ministerial wedding bells

ABOVE THE FOLD

FUNDRAISING WATCH — Ontario’s political parties are raking in more cash than ever, thanks to the Ford government’s steady raising of donation limits, which, naturally, is benefitting the ruling class more than their rivals.

First-quarter cash hauls are in, and the PCs are again flexing their fundraising muscle and lapping the other parties, big time. Before we dig into the numbers, let’s set the table.

As of this year, citizens can fork over an eye-popping $5,000 annually to a political party, up from $3,400 last year. Soon after coming to power, Premier DOUG FORD had scrapped Liberal-era reforms (brought on by their own cash-for-access scandal) and promised to phase out the taxpayer-funded per-vote subsidy to off-set lower individual contribution limits. But, spoiler alert, that never happened, and parties that receive a certain threshold of votes continue to get quarterly allowances.

In Q1: The PCs raked in a $1,373,162 quarterly allowance, the Liberals (who came secon…