The Tories raised more than the opposition Liberal and New Democrats combined in the second quarter of 2012, pulling in $3.7 million in donations from 29,000 contributors.
The figures show a growing schism between financial support and voting intention expressed in opinion polls.
Of every dollar donated to the federal parties between 49 cents went to the Conservatives, 24 cents went to the Liberals, 23 cents to the NDP and just 4 to the Green Party.
Various polls over the spring and summer have put the governing Conservatives at just above 30 per cent of decided voters, some placing the Tories even with the NDP or even trailing.
There is good news for both the NDP and the Liberals in the quarterly fundraising figures, however. The numbers suggest that the Liberal Party, which took in more money than the NDP, still has bedrock support from people willing to open their wallets.
The Liberals raised $1.8 million over the three months, just ahead of the NDP’s $1.7 million.
Most encouraging for the Liberals are the total number of donors — 23,000, far more than the NDP’s 17,000.
While the Tories pride themselves on getting small contributions from many people, the Liberals have historically tended to receive larger donations from a smaller pool, and were hamstrung when the Conservative government lowered the personal donation limit to $1,100 in 2006.
But of the three main parties, the Liberals had the lowest average per-donation value, at just under $80, compared to the NDP at $94 and the Conservatives at $130.
Money continued to flow in to help pay down leadership debts incurred by New Democrats, even after Thomas Mulcair was elected in March. During the quarter, $266,000 in contributions was directed to the NDP leadership campaign costs, with Mulcair, second-place candidate Brian Topp and Ottawa Centre Paul Dewar taking the most.
Meanwhile, Liberal leadership candidates are still struggling to pay down the albatross of debt from their 2006 campaigns. In the second quarter, $36,000 in donations were directed to the various leadership campaigns — but not enough to get former candidates Martha Hall Findlay, Joe Volpe, Ken Dryden and Hedy Fry out of legal jeopardy.
An Ontario court this month refused to extend the time limit on repayments on their debt and it is now up to Elections Canada to consider sanctions.
The money borrowed by the Liberal leadership campaigns — some of it from the candidates themselves — could be deemed contributions. If so, these donations would exceed the $1,100 contribution cap that was in place at the time and put the campaigns in violation of the Elections Act.
Because the Liberals do not dispute the facts at issue, they could be offered a chance to avoid prosecution and admit wrongdoing in signed compliance statements, at the discretion of the Commissioner of Canada Elections.
Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: GLEN MCGREGOR
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