Tories trounce Liberals, have momentum following first-quarter fundraising race

New fundraising numbers show the Conservatives trounced the governing Liberals in the first three months of 2018 — and suggest the Tories are chugging along with a strong head of steam heading into next year's federal election.

The Conservatives raked in $6,010,813 in donations from 40,184 donations between January and March, far outpacing the 28,960 donors who gave $3,307,773 million to Justin Trudeau's Liberals.

The figures for the Liberals come as some public opinion polls suggest the Liberals are suffering from a mid-mandate slump — though the Liberals' fundraising total in the first quarter is about $500,000 higher than it was in the first quarter of 2017, when the party was more comfortably ahead in the polls.

The Conservatives have also improved significantly over their first quarter result in 2017, when the party was in the midst of a leadership race, and have posted their best numbers since the 2015 federal election. The Conservatives were also the only party to do better in this quarter than they did in the previous one — notable, considering that the last quarter of any year is usually when a party raises the most money.

While the Liberals have been able to narrow the gap in recent years, the Conservatives have nonetheless traditionally pulled in more money.

But the most recent result was one of the best by a federal party in the first quarter of a non-election year in recent history, suggesting extra momentum for the Conservatives under leader Andrew Scheer.

The New Democrats under Jagmeet Singh raised $1,372,760 from 16,132 contributions, their best first quarter since before the last election, when the party was still in the official opposition role in the House of Commons.

The Green Party posted fundraising of $533,326 from 7,393 individual contributions, the party's best first-quarter haul since 2015. The Bloc Québécois took in just $101,234 from 956 contributions.