Fundraising fortunes rise for Grits

As promised in this space yesterday, we now have all the fundraising numbers by the major parties as released by Elections Canada through a searchable database.

The surprise remains the Liberals (much to the consternation of folks in some circles).

The Grits raised a little more than $4 million after you add together money received by the central party from donors and by riding associations. That’s well up from the $980,000 raised in the same period last year.

But this is where that consternation comes in: the Liberals held a leadership convention in May (you can be forgiven for forgetting about it since it was, in fact, a coronation), which means that dues paid by delegates have to be counted as donations.

The Liberals say that added about $1 million to the total, even though most of that money was spent on holding the actual convention.

Figures for other parties include:

• $3.96 million for the Conservatives, up a little from the same period last year.
• $711,000 for the NDP, pretty much the same as last year.
• $194,000 for the Green party, a small decrease.
• $199,000 for the Bloc.

Now to compare the Bloc’s fundraising numbers requires a HUGE asterisk. Suffice it to say, they move money between the ridings and the central party different than most. It’s in no way illegal or wrong, just different.

That, and there’s also the fact they receive almost $3 million a year through election financing. And since they only run 75 candidates in one province, they are capped at spending no more than about $5 million in any election. So, they don’t worry too much about fundraising.

— James Fitz-Morris

Fundraising fortunes rise for Grits