The Premier of Ontario is selling access to her and to top-ranked politicians in the province for thousands of dollars per event. No foolin'. From Andrew Coyne at the National Post,
Another leader caught selling preferential access to the highest bidder might have folded under pressure and abandoned the practice. But there’s a principle at stake here, and Kathleen Wynne is drawing a line in the sand. The principle? A little thing called democracy.
“It’s part of the democratic process,” she said, of the $6,000-a-head cocktail reception and three-course dinner at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel scheduled for this Thursday. Organized by a major lobbying firm, it is advertised as a “small event with a limited number of tickets,” allowing for intimate “one-on-one conversations” with the premier, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli and senior staff. A similar event last month charged $5,000 to speak to Chiarelli and the premier’s chief of staff, Andrew Bevan.
Well, what could be more democratic than that?
This news should surprise no one. When gubmnt controls allocation of scarce resources, firms and individuals have an increased incentive to try to influence how those resources get distributed. It's an inevitable result of big gubmnt. And we certainly have big and growing gubmnt in Ontario.
"People respond to incentives."
Addendum: this cartoon from the Trono Star: