B.C. Liberals raise $10 million, triple NDP fundraising total
The B.C. Liberal Party last year raised three times more money than its main political rival, with the bulk of that cash coming unsurprisingly from corporate donors whose combined contributions eclipsed the NDP’s entire fundraising efforts.
Financial records released Wednesday show the Liberal Party raised just over $10 million in 2014.
About half of that total, $5.1 million, came from corporate donors, with individual contributions and trade union contributions totalling about $4 million and $6,800, respectively. Some of the big corporate donors included: BFI Canada Inc. ($91,000), Teck Resources Limited ($144,600), Concord Development Inc.($64,000) and Ledcor Industries Inc. ($42,000).
While down from the $14 million the Liberals raised the previous fiscal year, their latest fundraising haul is still far greater than the $3.1 million raised in 2014 by the provincial New Democrats.
According to the records released Wednesday, $2.6 million of the NDP’s total came from individuals and about $385,000 from trade unions. Corporate donations levelled out at about $133,000.
The biggest union donations came from the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union ($139,000), followed by the United Steelworkers of Canada ($30,000) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees, B.C. Division ($29,000).
The numbers are a far cry from what the NDP raised in 2013, when it seemed almost certain that the New Democrats would form government.
Back then, corporate donations hit the $2.3-million mark, almost equalling the $2.7 million offered by the NDP’s historic union allies.
Meanwhile, the latest financial records showed a continuation of several trends. As in past years, the Liberal Party outspent the NDP by a wide margin in media advertising and research and polling.
Premier Christy Clark’s name was not among Liberals donors while Opposition leader John Horgan donated $1,000 to his party.
Included in records released Wednesday by Elections B.C. were the financial documents for all the registered political parties in B.C.
The Green Party raised just under $300,000 in 2014 ($233,000 in 2013) and the B.C. Conservative Party raised $82,000 ($207,000 in 2013).