Mackay tops $1M mark
Closest Conservative leadership rival has raised just under $800,000
OTTAWA — Fundraising numbers for the first three months of the year show Peter Mackay hauled in just over $1 million in the Conservative leadership race, while rival Erin O’toole raised just under $800,000.
However, O’toole had the most people contributing to his campaign, with just under 4,700 donations from about 4,200 people (donors sometimes make multiple contributions) for a total of $784,997. The Mackay campaign reported just over 3,500 donations from about 3,400 people for a total of $1,045,851.
While fundraising isn’t a perfect predictor of leadership contests, the numbers do suggest it could be close between the two front-runners in the race to replace Andrew Scheer.
The numbers were posted by Elections Canada on Thursday evening, and cover the period up to March 31. The report doesn’t indicate how much a campaign is spending, only how much it has raised. Some donations made in March may not have been processed in time to make it into the report, especially as the party suspended the race on March 26 and stopped processing donations because of COVID-19.
Of the other two candidates on the final ballot, Leslyn Lewis reported $447,646, while Derek Sloan was just behind with $410,263. Both reported about 2,900 donations. Lewis and Sloan are heavily backed by social conservative networks.
The vast majority of the money raised by Lewis and Sloan so far will have gone into the $300,000 in fees and deposits required to enter the race. Furthermore, with the race suspended for most of April, the campaigns wouldn’t have been able to formally raise money (though they may have still secured promises of donations).
Jim Karahalios, who was disqualified from the race and is challenging that decision in court, raised $294,522, according to the report. He has said he submitted more than $300,000, but some of the donations may have still been in processing.
The report shows Marilyn Gladu raised $94,734, Rick Peterson raised $35,598, and Rudy Husny raised $28,941. All three were eliminated from the race due to not raising enough for the $300,000 threshold, though they did pay an initial $25,000 entry fee.
The leadership organizing committee announced new deadlines for the race on Wednesday.