Conservatives, Liberals set fundraising records while campaigning

The Conservatives and Liberals set new fundraising records while on the campaign trail for the election earlier this month, according to new data from Elections Canada.

The quarterly filings, covering the period from July 1 to Sept. 30, show the Conservatives raised $10,143,752 in the third quarter of 2019, the best quarter by any party in Canadian history.

Raised from nearly 62,000 individual contributions, the tally narrowly beat out the party's previous record-setting quarter, in the last election: Stephen Harper's Conservatives raised $10.1 million in the third quarter of 2015.

The Liberals fell just $9,000 short of their own record from 2015, raising $7,276,261 from about 53,341 individual contributions.

Over the first three quarters of 2019, the Conservatives raised $26.7 million and the Liberals took in $16.2 million, putting both parties on track for their best fundraising years on record, and suggesting neither party was hurting for cash on the campaign trail.

Fundraising numbers for the last weeks of the campaign won't be available until early next year.

NDP funds raised much less than 2015's Q3

The New Democrats raised $2,646,792 from 20,873 contributions, the party's best quarter in nearly four years. But the total is considerably less than the $9.1 million raised by the NDP in the third quarter of 2015. Over the first three quarters of this year, the NDP has raised just $5.3 million. In the first three quarters of the last election year, the New Democrats raised three times as much.

With $2,596,173 raised from 21,277 contributions, the Green Party had its best fundraising quarter ever, beating its record set in the 2015 election by more than half a million dollars. The Greens have raised $4.8 million so far this year, also a record for the party.

The Bloc Québécois, which has centralized more of its fundraising activities than in the past, raised $502,330, a little less than raised in the second quarter of this year.

Fundraising figures for the People's Party of Canada were not available, as it is not required to file quarterly. Since Maxime Bernier's party did not meet the threshold of two per cent of the vote in the election, it will continue to not be required to file quarterly.

Leadership contestants still raising money to pay off debts are required to continue reporting their fundraising efforts, however.

Only two contestants from the 2017 Conservative leadership race raised money in the last quarter: Kellie Leitch gathered $2,200 in donations and Kevin O'Leary raised nearly $42,000.