Dinner with Doug

By Gazette Staff

November 19th, 2025

BURLINGTON, ON

DOUG FORD’s big-ticket Leader’s Dinner and cocktail reception fundraising event is back on tonight on his home turf in Etobicoke, conveniently landing on the eve of the Premier’s birthday.

It’s the first cash haul of its kind since the Greenbelt scandal iced the tradition — not exactly the best optics to be asking donors to cough up the big bucks, in tonight’s case a cool $1,500, when your government is being accused of favouring donors and PC-friendly operatives on the daily. So you’re forgiven for feeling the déjà vu — the Skills Development Fund imbroglio is casting clouds on tonight’s event, too.

Even some Tory insiders tell me they think it’s a bad idea to bring back such dinners while dealing with SDF scrutiny. The ruling PCs have consistently left their rivals in the dust when it comes to fundraising, and that will probably continue with the latest changes to campaign finance rules, like raising donation limits to a whopping $5,000.

While Ford seems to be feeling confident after scoring a rare third majority in February and hovering around the mid to high 40s in the polls since, it does appear that at least some folks at PC HQ may have recognized that it’s not the greatest look to be raking in major money when your government is dealing with questions of cronyism. Case in point: The PCs suddenly cancelled a planned fundraiser featuring embattled Labour Minister DAVID PICCINI, and while they said it was all to focus on selling tickets to tonight’s event, the timing raised eyebrows.

Still, they’ve been blasting fundraising emails to the party faithful, including over Ford’s riff re: the sex registry — a peak Ford-esque moment.