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Parties’ financial returns show Tories topped Liberals in 2018 fundraising

Jul 3, 2019 | 9:24 AM

OTTAWA — Newly released federal party financial figures show the Conservatives entered this election year having outpaced the Liberals in fundraising by more than $8.3 million in 2018.

The Conservatives raised about $24.2 million from 104,000 donors in 2018, more than the $15.9 million the Liberals raised from 66,000 people.

The Greens raised over $3.1 million last year.

The figures provide a window on the financial health of the parties as they ramped up fundraising efforts ahead of this fall’s federal election.

Parties are required to provide their annual returns to Elections Canada by the end of June unless they receive an extension, as the New Democrats did this year.

Figures made public by the elections agency as of this morning also show that the Animal Protection party raised almost $260,000 last year, the Marxist-Leninist party raised about $107,000 and the Marijuana Party raised $1,675.

The Canadian Press