Both Armstrong and Bourque, as well as a Kevin Feth, a similar name to another Alberta judge, appear to have been Laurier Club members, an exclusive club run by the Liberal Party for its top donors. Supporters can join the Laurier Club by donating $1,700 per year, the maximum legal limit for contributions to a national party.
The first was a Laurier Club event headlined by Trudeau. The 2019 event was a $1,625 per ticket breakfast reception also hosted by the prime minister and held at the Fairmont Royal York hotel in Toronto.The Post and the IJF reached out to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice asking about fundraiser attendance. A spokesperson for the court confirmed the emailed questions were forwarded to Steele. Steele did not respond to this message or multiple requests for comment sent to her personal email.
The IJF and the Post asked directly in a follow up message if other methods of determining applicants’ political leanings are used besides political databases, such as attendance at fundraisers. In response, another spokesperson for the PMO, Alison Murphy, said: “Our Government has been committed to an open and transparent, merit-based appointments process to encourage continued trust in Canada’s democracy and ensure the integrity of its public institutions.
“A key question is whether the current government skipped over others in the pool that weren’t at that fundraiser,” said Hausegger. “Of course, if they were all ‘highly recommended’ and the Liberals chose someone they knew a little more about, that is a much different scenario than if they chose someone ‘recommended’ over someone ‘highly recommended’ who wasn’t at the fundraiser.”Article content