There are rules and regulations.
They're even good ones compared to most other jurisdictions. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn't wrong about that.
But when rich people pay $1,500 to attend cocktail parties and dinner parties where he is the star attraction, they get access that most people will never have.
It's not just that they get more time to take their selfies - many of which will be used to impress business associates and government officials of their close personal relationship with the prime minister.
It's that they talk when they get face time. Initially, Trudeau denied business is discussed. More recently, he's admitted that he does get lobbied.
But at Tuesday's editorial board meeting with the Vancouver Sun, Trudeau defended the so-called, pay-to-play access. He argued it's totally transparent who pays to come to these fundraisers.
He's right.
We can all Google it and find it.
He's also right the federal election rules that ban corporate and union donations and include a cap on individual donations of $1,500 are much better than most other places - including British Columbia, which has amongst the laxest rules in Canada.
The prime minister was adamant that "we're not on the slippery slope" to a system like in the United States where all kinds of dark money fuels elections and influences policies.
He also argued that we've rarely had such an accessible national leader. He regularly holds town hall meetings and news conferences.
Trudeau even pointed out that critics frequently deride him as the "selfie prime minister."
So how, the prime minister asked - flashing his famous smile - can he possibly be accused of both being too accessible and also selling access?
It's a good system that doesn't need changing, Trudeau maintains. There's no reason to do that or go to a system where election costs come out of the public purse and aren't dependent on parties and candidates raising money.
That somehow doesn't sit well. Even if Trudeau and other politicians are scrupulous about what they say at these parties, people at these exclusive parties have different experiences and talk about different things than most of us.
I'm betting, for example, that no one who attended last month's $1,500-a-head fundraiser at developer Miaofei Pan's West Vancouver mansion would have even considered asking when Canada might finally have universal childcare or whether Vancouver housing might ever become more affordable, or about the growing gaps in health care.
Pan did tell a reporter, for example, that he talked to Trudeau about making it easier for wealthy Chinese investors to get into Canada.
If pipelines are topics of conversation among the well-heeled, it's more likely that the focus would have been on why the review processes coupled with First Nations' consultation cost so much, take so long and still result in disruptive protests.
I'm betting that if you can afford $1,500 for a ticket to dinner, you're not likely to be talking about lineups at the local food bank or how difficult it is to make ends meet when your household income has been stagnant for most of the last decade. I expect issues like that also weren't raised at the $10,000-a-head, private party for Premier Christy Clark last spring.
Maybe I'm wrong about this. Maybe the people who pay for this kind of access do share similar values and concerns with the rest of us.
Still, most of us are smart enough and savvy enough to know that big deals in Canada as well as other countries - whether business or government - are forged in the crucible of personal relationship.
The more often you stand next to the prime minister or premier or mayor, the more often you get to share your values and priorities.
So, maybe access doesn't get you a favour or anything more than a better quality selfie. But it's a perception that even Trudeau acknowledged in his 2015 Open and Accountable Government document that said, "There should be no preferential treatment, or appearance of preferential access, accorded to individuals or organizations because they have made financial contributions to politicians and political parties."
Perception is why exclusive fundraisers are a problem for Trudeau - along with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and B.C.'s Christy Clark. Because in politics, as all of them should know, perception is reality.