Wednesday, July 31, 2019 ~ NATIONAL & WEST SHORE
~ West Shore Voice News
This week the Conservative Party of Canada said it has set a new Canadian political fundraising record for the second quarter (April to June), and for the first six months of any year.
In a news release on July 30, the Conservatives Party says it has raised over $8.5 million from over 53,000 Canadians – calling it the best Q2 ever (including being more than in 2011 which was a majority winning election campaign under Stephen Harper). “This brings the total to over $16.5 million in the first six months of 2019 – nearly $1 million better than 2011, and nearly $3 million better than 2015. The 53,294 individual donors is also a record Q2,” it was stated in the release.
Election campaigns are costly and are thought to do better with ample funding, a point that is underscored with this news from the Conservative Party. However, the NDP in particular (and particularly on Vancouver Island) have a strong ‘ground game’ of organizational strength which has its own way of producing results.
The Liberals say the $5 million they raised April through June came from just over 41,500 contributors, which the party calls its best-ever second quarter when it comes to the number of donors.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was in Victoria July 18 for a fundraiser.
The Greens raised nearly $1.44 million from about 14,600 donors in 2Q, while the NDP raised just over $1.43 million from about 14,900 contributors.
“We’re now less than 90 days until Election Day, and these fundraising results show that momentum is firmly on our side,” said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. “With Canadians clearly showing their support for our party, we’re going to continue to outline our plan that helps all Canadians get ahead.”
With $8,532,334 raised from 53,294 donors, Scheer’s party says it’s an improvement of over $300,000 from the previous Q2 record in Canada.
On south Vancouver Island’s west shore, the candidates so far are:
- Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke: Randall Garrison, MP (NDP) – incumbent; Jamie Hammond (Liberal); David Merner (Green Party), who ran as a Liberal in 2015; and Dr Randall Pewarchuk (Conservative).
- Cowichan-Malahat-Langford: Alistair MacGregor, MP (NDP) – incumbent; Alana DeLong (Conservative).