Twenty people, mostly lawyers, paid to attend a private Liberal fundraising event with Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould held in the offices of a major Toronto law firm.
The April 7 reception in the Toronto office of Torys LLP raised $9,577 for the federal Liberal Party, according to financial records released by Elections Canada on Tuesday.
At the time, the Conservatives were critical over what they alleged was a blurring of Wilson-Raybould鈥檚 duties as a minister with party fundraising and the appearance of Bay Street lawyers buying exclusive access to the attorney general.
Tickets to the event cost $500 each, of which $478 dollars went to the party, after deducting the costs of hosting the event.
Wilson-Raybould maintained at the time that there was no conflict between the fundraiser and her position in cabinet.
Federal ethics commissioner Mary Dawson said she wouldn鈥檛 investigate as there was nothing in either the Conflict of Interest Act nor the Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians that prevents ministers of the Crown from fundraising with groups related to their portfolios.
Among those contributing to the party, according to Elections Canada data, were senior Toronto lawyers Martin Sclisizzi, leader of the banking litigation group at Borden Ladner Gervais; Brian Thiessen, an employment lawyer at Osler; and Glenn Zakaib, a class-action specialist at Cassels Brock.
Elections Canada does not record the names of events where contributions were made, but the list of donors who gave exactly $478.37 appears to be those who attended the event with the justice minister:
- Jason Balgopal
- Scott W. Bell (Torys LLP)
- Aileen Carroll
- Joanna A. Carroll
- Ranadeep Choudhury
- Ron Choudhury (Miller Thomson)
- Rebecca Huang
- Andrew Huang
- Christopher Moore
- Sharon Ranson (The Ranson Group)
- Karen Rosen
- Martin Sclisizzi (Borden Ladner Gervais LLP)
- Rajneesh K. Sharda (Sharda Law)
- Timothy Shortill
- Justyn Szymczyk
- Brian Thiessen (Osler LLP)
- Grant Worden (Torys LLP)
- Cornell C.V. Wright (Torys LLP)
- Landon Young (Stringer LLP)
- Glenn M. Zakaib (Cassels Brock)
