Fattest war chest? Looks like Harper’s
Parties prepare for winter campaign Tories plan to focus on ‘air war’
OTTAWA— As the major federal parties scramble to book planes and grapple with the other logistics of a winter election, the Conservatives appear to find themselves atop the fattest campaign war chest.
Tory officials said they expect to spend nearly $20 million on the upcoming election, roughly $3 million more than they did in the 2004 election. The three opposition parties have threatened to bring down the minority government — thus, triggering an election campaign — with a non- confidence motion in the next couple of weeks unless the Liberals agree to call an election in early January for mid- February. Prime Minister Paul Martin has rejected the opposition
leaders’ proposal. The official Elections Canada donations list shows the Tories have raised $ 10,872,261 so far this year, compared to the Liberals’ $ 5,161,813, the NDP’s $ 2,416,181 and the Bloc Québécois’ $ 303, 010.
“ Everything is wonderful . . . our war room is ready, our phones are in, our airplane is waiting for a phone call, the buses are ready, the team is put together across the country,” said Tory MP John Reynolds ( West Vancouver- Sunshine Coast), who is the party’s national election co- chair. “ We’ve got lots of money, it’s not an issue, we’ve got candidates across the country, in excess of 95 per cent nominated already.” And according to several officials, a lot of that money is going to be spent trying to win the “ air war” — television commercials, radio ads and the like.
Sources said former Tory campaign chairman Tom Flanagan, who teaches political science at the University of Calgary, is fashioning the party’s public message and helping to concoct a national ad campaign.
Reynolds confirmed ads are in the works, saying “ there’s a lot of commercials ready, and some ready to shoot, and we will have a significantly larger budget for advertising this time than we did last time.”
While there’s lots of cash in the Tory coffers, party insiders in Ontario — where it’s expected the next election will be decided — admit there is still a lot of work to be done on the ground.
“ There are still a few red flags, but I think it’s going to be a challenge for all the parties to get their people out. It would be a lot easier in May or June,” said a veteran Ontario Tory organizer. The Liberals, however, are warning not to read too much into what looks like a huge imbalance between the Tory and Liberal war chests.
First of all, said Liberal executive director Steven MacKinnon, the Tories total up all contributions — to the national campaign and individual ridings — when they make their quarterly declarations to Elections Canada. The Liberals don’t include donations to ridings, which report on their own. So the contributions figure for the ruling party includes only what Liberals have raised nationally. MacKinnon wouldn’t say what the Liberals have socked away in the bank, but he said it’s enough to run a “ full- limit” campaign — meaning they will be spending the approximately $ 18 million to $20 million that’s expected to be the upper limit. ( Spending limits aren’t set until the campaign is official.) About 200 candidates are already nominated, MacKinnon said, and “ lots more” will be put in place “ as soon as possible.” There are 308 federal ridings. Of the candidates named so far, MacKinnon believes between 25 and 30 per cent are women. Though no one’s looking forward to a Christmas campaign, MacKinnon said the party would be ready to roll out TV ads, a campaign plane, a “ war room,” and all the literature as soon as the election’s called.
“ We have for a long time operated on a contingency basis — that when you have to be ready, you’d be ready,” he said. The New Democrats spent $ 14 million in the 2004 campaign — the most they’ve ever spent — and the party expects to top that amount this time.
“ That’s the minimum of how much we’ll spend,” said NDP spokesperson Brad Lavigne, adding the party has seen an encouraging jump in donations.
“ The fundraising has been incredibly strong. We have more people today giving money than in years previous,” he said. He said that cash will go to support an aggressive ad campaign.
“ We’ll be going toe- to- toe with the Liberals and the Conservatives,” he said. As well, he said, resources would be pumped into the 12 ridings where the NDP came within 1,000 votes of winning. According to figures from Elections Canada, the major parties received cheques last month for their third quarterly entitlement under the 2004 campaign financing law (they receive $ 1.75 for each vote won in the last election).
That means that in addition to individual and corporate contributions, the Liberal party has received $ 6.8 million in federal funding this year, the Tories $ 5.5 million, the NDP $ 2.9 million and the Bloc $ 2.3 million.