Tories Spent $21 Million To Secure Election Win

CP -- OTTAWA — The Conservative party said Saturday it spent $21 million to win its coveted majority in the May 2 election.

That was the maximum allowed to be spent under Elections Canada rules.

Conservative Senator and chief fundraiser Irving Gerstein told the party's policy convention that all the campaign bills have now been paid and the party has cash in the bank.

He said the party was also on track to break fundraising records for the first two quarters of this year.

But Gerstein urged the party faithful to keep the money rolling in as the Tories will need to make up for the $12 million they will lose when the government cuts the per-vote-political subsidy to political parties. The subsidy gives $2 for each vote a party wins in an election.

Ending the subsidy has been a long-time Tory goal and attempts to do it in 2008 created a political furor that almost toppled the Conservative government. But the party's majority status in the House of Commons means the government will easily get the measure through this time around.

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Source: Huffington