Conservatives Out-Fundraise Liberals by Nearly $5 Million in First Quarter of 2023

Conservatives Out-Fundraise Liberals by Nearly $5 Million in First Quarter of 2023
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at the the National Coalition of Chiefs Clean Energy Summit In Calgary on Feb. 17, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Dave Chidley)
The Canadian Press
5/2/2023
Updated:
5/2/2023
0:00

The Conservative Party of Canada brought in more donations during the first three months of the year than any other federal party.

Financial statements from Elections Canada show the Conservativesraised more than $8.3 million during the first quarter of the year from nearly 46,000 donors.

The Tories routinely outperform their political rivals on fundraising, and this time they beat out the governing Liberals by nearly $5 million.

The Liberals brought in about $3.6 million from nearly 31,000 donors during the same period.

The New Democrats, who agreed to support the Liberals in the minority Parliament with a supply-and-confidence deal, raised almost $1.3 million from about 16,000 donors.

The Green Party brought in nearly $401,000, the Bloc Québécois brought in more than $322,000 and the People’s Party of Canada raised over $296,000.

The Conservative party said in a statement that their fundraising bounty “speaks to the growing movement of Canadians who are putting their hard-earned dollars behind a leader who is listening to them and speaking to their concerns.”

The Liberal party, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, can still point to positive news out of the latest results: it had its best first-quarter showing in the past three years.

Still, the Tories can brag that they have widened the gap between their results and those of the Liberals since Pierre Poilievre took the helm.

While the Conservative party was consistently ahead of Liberals in the first three quarters of 2022, with the biggest gap at $1.8 million in the first quarter, its lead widened to $4 million in the last three months of the year after Poilievre’s election as leader in early September.

As the party grows its fundraising momentum, Poilievre said in a statement that his party will continue to fight for Canadians to have “a decent life.”

He said the Liberal government’s policies “have broken this country and have made Canadians broke.”

By Mickey Djuric