Bernier raises more than Scheer in final sprint of Conservative race

OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier lost the Conservative leadership race, but he remained the top fundraiser right to the end.

Newly released figures from Elections Canada show the Quebec MP raised $426,329 in the second quarter of 2017, bringing his total fundraising results so far up to nearly $2.5 million since he entered the race last year.

That is more than any of the other leadership candidates managed to pull in, including the guy who narrowly beat him to win the race.

Andrew Scheer, who was elected Conservative party leader May 27, raised $261,446 between April 1 and June 30, for a total of $989,006 so far.

That puts him in third place for the second quarter and fourth place overall.

“Money is not a tremendous leading indicator when it comes to leadership races,” said Chad Rogers, a Conservative strategist.

“One of the reasons is that the electorate is so small and so narrowly defined,” said Rogers, a founding partner at Crestview Strategy. “The way you raise money in a leadership race is not the way you acquire supporters.”

That lack of predictability applies beyond the surprising result that made Scheer the winner after 13 runoff ballots.

Celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary, who withdrew from the race a month before the finish line, raised $383,450 during the second quarter.

His total of $1.4 million makes him the third-strongest fundraiser overall.

Conservative MP Kellie Leitch, who was the first to declare her candidacy, raised a total of nearly $1.5 million over the course of the campaign, although her second-quarter result was roughly half the amount that Scheer raised.

Her total makes her the second-biggest fundraiser overall, but she was dropped off the ninth ballot with 7.96 per cent of the vote.