Liberals close gap on Tory fundraising

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal party just scored its best-ever third quarter fundraising result in a non-election year — but still fell $1 million short of the money raked in by the Conservatives.

According to the latest quarterly financial reports filed with Elections Canada, the governing party pulled in nearly $3.8 million between July 1 and the end of September, from some 33,000 donors.

The Conservatives, who’ve proven their mettle time and again as fundraising champs, took in $4.86 million in the same period, from 36,655 contributors.

Still, as the clock ticks down to the next election in a year, the fundraising gap between the two parties closed significantly during the third quarter.

The Conservatives raked in more than $6 million in each of the first two quarters — almost double the Liberal hauls.

The NDP continued to lag far behind, raising just $861,889 from 11,877 donors in the third quarter. That was only marginally better than the Green Party, which pulled in just over $555,000.

The NDP reported similarly dismal results in the first half of the year but party spokesman Guillaume Francoeur said the total of $3.1 million raised so far this year is still slightly better than the amount raised at the same point last year. He said the party expects improved results in the fourth quarter.