Conservatives still tops in party fundraising but Liberals close the gap

For the third consecutive quarter, the Conservative Party out-fundraised the governing Liberals, taking in over $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2017.

New fundraising figures from Elections Canada shows the Conservatives raised $3,644,008 in the months of July, August and September from 32,211 individual contributors. That put them ahead of the Liberals, who took in $3,130,845 from 29,786 contributors.

Though the numbers still put the Conservatives on top, the party's total fundraising was down for the second consecutive quarter. The party had raised just over $4 million in the second quarter of the year. But with the exception of 2015, when the country was in the midst of an election campaign, the Conservatives have seen a drop in fundraising from the second to third quarters in every year since 2010.

In addition to the money raised by the party, the contestants from the leadership race that ended with Andrew Scheer's victory in May raised about $77,000 to help service debt accrued during the campaign. That included $3,501 raised by Kevin O'Leary, who says he is waiting until next year to focus on paying down the substantial debts from his abortive leadership bid.

The Liberals saw their fundraising increase for the second consecutive quarter, closing the gap between them and the Conservatives by half to just $513,000. But this was the worst third quarter for the party since 2013 and the smallest number of individual contributors in a quarter since then.

NDP fundraising increases in 3rd quarter

The New Democrats raised $1,090,260 from 19,925 individual contributors, an increase from the second quarter of 2017 as well as the third quarter of last year. They also raised money from more contributors than in any quarter since the 2015 federal election.

Leadership contestants added another $835,000 brought into the party's orbit. Jagmeet Singh, who became the NDP's new leader at the beginning of the month, led the field with $374,183 in fundraising. In total, Singh raised just under $731,000 throughout the campaign.

That put him well ahead of his defeated rivals. Ontario MP Charlie Angus raised $189,181 in the third quarter, followed by Manitoba MP Niki Ashton at $173,365 and Quebec MP Guy Caron at $94,812.50.

The New Democrats had the lowest average quarterly contribution at $54.72 per donor, compared to $68.39 for the Greens, $99.67 for the Bloc Québécois, $105.17 for the Liberals and $113.13 for the Conservatives.

Bloc, Green fundraising slips

The Greens put up their worst quarter in four years, taking just $443,828 from 6,490 individual contributions. So far this year, the Greens have raised $1.4 million, well behind the NDP at $2.8 million, the Liberals at $9 million and the Conservatives at $13 million. 

The Bloc Québécois has raised just $304,000 so far in 2017, with $76,445 coming into the party in the third quarter from 767 contributions. The party has seen its contributions slip in three consecutive quarters, though it has traditionally focused its fundraising efforts in the fourth quarter.

Since 2010, with the exception of 2015 when there was an election, the sovereignist party has raised about five times as much money in the fourth quarter as it has in the third.