“This is a business. Under the law, which prohibits large donations, you have to understand how to run the business to get lots of relatively small donors,” Prof. Flanagan told The Hill Times following the release of the national parties’ annual financial returns by Elections Canada on Wednesday.
According to Elections Canada figures released on Wednesday, the Conservatives raised $22.7-million from donations, another $1.09-million in membership fees and $2.1-million in “other” revenue—the most of any other political party in 2011. That’s a total of $25.9-million, according to the party’s 2011 annual financial report, released by Elections Canada on Wednesday. The Conservatives can thank a strong base of financial support for the success. The party received an average annual donation of $206.21 from 110,267 contributors last year.
The CPC’s report for the year, which ended in December 2011, lists a paltry $74,224 for fundraising expenses, but a whopping $14-million spent on advertising. Also listed under their expenses was $8.2-million for donations and contributions.
Calls to Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein, who chairs the Conservative Party of Canada Fund, were not returned, and Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey responded with a concise comment on the reasons for his party's financial success.
“It’s a clear sign that Canadians approve of the job the Conservative government is doing on managing the economy,” Mr. DeLorey responded by email.
Prof. Flanagan, a popular conservative pundit who also teaches political science at the University of Calgary, served as Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) leadership campaign manager and later his chief of staff when he was leader of the opposition, said that the figures reflect strong loyalty within the party’s base.
“There’s nothing like getting people to give you some money to really turn them into loyal supporters, so this helps to account for the solidity of the Conservative voting base,” said Prof. Flanagan, who recently managed the campaign of Wildrose Alliance leader Danielle Smith in Alberta’s provincial election in April. “It’s a very firm base and I think that’s partly to do with the party's approach to grass-roots fundraising.”
The Conservative Party has outraised the Liberals, NDP, Bloc Québécois and Greens combined every year since 2005. It remains to be seen if that trend continues this year, pending the New Democrats’ delayed financial return. The NDP’s financial report was not filed, and Elections Canada granted the party an extension to Aug. 30, 2012.
Prof. Flanagan was a key adviser to Mr. Harper in 2003 when the Conservatives adopted the Constituent Information Management System (CIMS), which consolidated the voter and donor identification data of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties following their merger. He observed that the party is becoming “more sophisticated all the time” in its application of the system for fundraising.
“The key is to having a centralized database under a single control, having unification of voter identification information with fundraising information, and using it intelligently—knowing how many times a year to call, how many times a year to send mail,” he said.
Despite the waning popularity of mail and phone calls in political marketing, Prof. Flanagan described the two mediums as “the two workhorses who support each other.”
“You keep contacting people in different ways. They may not give on the phone, but some people are likely to remember an envelope on their desk. They work together,” he observed. “It's annoying [for people] to be contacted so often, but it does bind them to you. There's nothing like getting people to give you some money to really turn them into loyal supporters, so this helps account for the solidity of the Conservative voting base.”
The Liberals brought in $10.9-million in contributions, leadership contributions, convention fees and membership fees in 2011. The party stepped up its financing efforts last year, investing nearly $2-million in fundraising, and another $11.8-million on advertising. The Grits averaged a similar annual contribution of $203.83, but from a much narrower support base of 49,650 contributors.
The Green Party’s financial return was not as clear on a line-by-line item, stating only $63,420 spent on “travel and promotion,” raising $1.7-million last year from contributions and $41,290 from “other.”
The Bloc Québécois spent $10,105 and raised a little more than $1-million last year.
The deadline to file financial returns was midnight, July 3.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: CHRIS PLECASH, AND BEA VONGDOUANGCHANCH
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