Poilievre shatters Trudeau's fundraising
IT REALLY DID RAISE THE STAKES . ... I DON'T THINK IT WAS HYPERBOLE FOR ME TO DESCRIBE THAT AS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION ON THE NATURE OF THE FEDERATION IN DECADES.
— FORMER ALBERTA PREMIER JASON KENNEY
The Conservative party is not only breaking records for political fundraising, it is now taking in nearly double what Justin Trudeau collected at the height of his pre-election popularity.
In 2014 — the first full year that Trudeau was Liberal leader — the Liberal party brought in $15.5 million, a 37 per cent increase over the previous year. In 2015 — the year Trudeau became prime minister — the party upped that to $16 million.
Even when adjusting for inflation, however, both totals are dwarfed by the record-breaking haul just announced by the Conservatives. In 2024 dollars, the Liberals' 2015 fundraising total comes out to $20 million. According to a statement this week by the Conservatives, the party brought in $35.2 million in 2023, the first full year of the leadership of Pierre Poilievre.
The total “broke all fundraising records for any political party in Canadian history,” claimed the Tories.
It probably has some relation to the soaring poll numbers of the Conservatives. For more than a year, the Conservatives have enjoyed a consistent 10-point lead over the minority Liberals, and every available model has them on track for a majority government. But the $35-million figure is also a function of the fact that the Conservatives routinely beat the Liberals in terms of fundraising numbers. Even in the otherwise lacklustre year of 2020, for instance, Conservatives pulled in $20.7 million as opposed to $15.1 million for the incumbent Liberals.
As to why, the easy answer is that the Conservatives have their strongest bases of support in the parts of Canada that also enjoy the highest median incomes.
Alberta, for instance, is a near-impenetrable Tory stronghold, and in 2020 it enjoyed a median after-tax household income of $83,000, as compared to the national median of $73,000.
But while the Tories have traditionally been the party of higher-income voters, this is one of many electoral metrics that appear to have been turned on its head. In just the last few months, Tory support has exploded among younger and lower-income demographics.
The Conservatives also traditionally spend more time and resources on scaring up donations. In 2022, for instance, they pulled in $23 million in donations, but spent $6.3 million on fundraising.
As to why the Liberals may not be trying as hard to match Conservative fundraising totals, one major reason might be that Canadian political parties are limited in how much of it they can spend in an election cycle.
In the 2021 federal election, for instance, the three major political parties were all required to cap their spending at $30 million.
Which is to say that while the Conservatives are bringing in record quantities of donated cash, they are in the awkward position of having to spend most of it before the next election is called.