On a chilly winter night last December, scores of guests descended on the Cynamon family’s neoclassical mansion in the Forest Hill neighbourhood of Toronto, eager to rub elbows and snap photos with Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
Co-hosted by former Toronto Argonauts co-owner and multimillionaire David Cynamon, his wife Stacey Cynamon and investing mogul Michael Liebrock, the event also featured distinguished attendees such as Austrian-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach and North York-based developer Jack Eisenberger, recently embroiled in the Ontario Greenbelt scandal.
The December event was just one of over a dozen intimate fundraisers hosted in the private homes of wealthy Canadians and headlined by Poilievre since the Ottawa-area MP was elected party leader in September 2022.
Trudeau suffered a “cash-for-access” scandal during his first term over his attendance at private ticketed fundraisers. At the time, Conservatives had blasted the Liberal leader and several of his cabinet ministers for the holding of these fundraisers in private homes.
For instance, the party’s shadow minister for democratic institutions Scott Reid condemned the hosting of fundraisers in private residences, saying “really special access to the PM, to the finance minister, and to others comes from being the host.”
Poilievre himself has criticized Trudeau in the past for hosting “$1,500-a-plate fundraisers,” which he has at other times described as catering to the “super-rich” and the “glitterati.”
Poilievre did not respond to the IJF’s requests for comment.
Gerald Baier, associate professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, said he was surprised to hear that the Conservatives were hosting fundraisers in private homes which, in contrast to public venues, are “much more secretive.”
“Mr. Poilievre has made a lot of hay over the access to ministers and to the prime minister,” said Baier. “It’s a little bit of ‘those in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.’”
Using event disclosure forms filed with Elections Canada, the IJF analyzed all fundraisers featuring a party leader or cabinet minister held by federal parties between September 2022 — when Poilievre was elected Conservative leader — and February 2024. None of the fundraisers held by the Liberal Party or Bloc Québécois during this period were hosted in private homes. Neither the NDP nor the Green Party held any fundraisers, whether in public or private spaces, in the same period.
In contrast, since securing the helm of the Conservative Party, a third of Poilievre’s fundraisers have been held in private residences.
Last November, couple Nikko Ruvolo and Stephen Arbib hosted Poilievre at their $15 million North York, Ont. mansion outfitted with an elevator, indoor basketball court and swimming pool.
Arbib is a well-known entrepreneur, having founded disaster relief and emergency services company Momentum Solutions, cybersecurity venture Cycura Inc., and former medicinal cannabis producer MedReleaf. He also recently made the news for personally paying for private evacuation flights for Israeli residents following Hamas’s attack on October 7.
Attendees were able to mingle not only with Poilievre but also illustrious guests such as billionaire Peter Thomson, a member of Canada’s richest family and Richard Patricio, CEO and president of $150 million mining company Mega Uranium Ltd.
Kim Lewis of Kingsville, Ont., said his family had planned to host a fundraiser for Poilievre, but ultimately ended up not doing so due to a change in the Conservative leader’s schedule.
Instead, Lewis attended a fundraiser in another supporter’s home for Poilievre last November. He said he decided to attend because he was “interested in hearing what Pierre had to say.”
At the event, Lewis said guests were treated to a speech from the party leader, followed by a Q&A session and, finally, Poilievre mingled with guests, speaking to them one-on-one.
Lewis said he left the event impressed with Poilievre, that the leader was “very well-spoken” and that he’s “more than hopeful” about the Conservative Party’s prospects in the upcoming election.
Alex Marland, professor of politics at Acadia University, said he’s less concerned that Poilievre is fundraising in private homes purely for the reason that the Conservatives are currently in opposition, rather than in government.
“If they were in government, and if they were doing this, totally changes things. It would be very concerning to have fundraisers in private residences to me,” said Marland. “The question is does it provide access to government officials? And in this case, the answer is, no, it does not.”
On the other hand, Baier said he suspected that, besides genuine support for the party and its commitments, the motivations for some hosts may have been access to a public figure who polls show is likely to be the next prime minister.
“They’re smart investors. They’re getting in early on the deal. It’s a lot easier to ask for a favour down the line when you were in the candidate’s ring before they came to power,” said Baier.
Some of the other hosts of these fundraising events have included the wealthy Boris family of Mississauga, Ont., whose company, Mountain Cablevision, was acquired by Shaw in 2009 for $300 million; Tom De Nardi, owner of Mondo Foods in Winnipeg and couple Sharon and Aaron Stern of Montreal, both C-suite executives of several investment ventures such as hedge fund Converium Capital.
In total, the IJF was able to confirm the identities of nine of the 13 hosts of the private residence fundraisers. None of them responded to our multiple requests for comment.
Both Baier and Marland praised Canada for having a relatively low donation limit at the federal level compared to the United States.
Yet, Marland emphasized that federal fundraising rules could be strengthened by explicitly prohibiting cash-for-access fundraisers.
“It’s one thing for a governing party to not do it in the wake of negative media coverage, which is what has happened with Liberals especially coming out of 2016-2017. But it’s another thing when the rules actually limit it,” said Marland.
How we did this story
Details on fundraisers came from analyzing the regulated fundraising event disclosure forms filed by parties with Elections Canada. The Canada Elections Act defines regulated fundraising events as fundraisers featuring a party leader, cabinet minister or leadership contestant and requiring a ticket purchase or past donation amount of $200 or more to attend.
This story only looked at fundraising events run by the federal parties and not by leadership contestants.