Murray Wood: Who's scary... and who's scary good?
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OTTAWA — A spokesperson for Mark Carney’s leadership campaign says they’ve raised more than $1.9 million so far in donations from over 11,000 people.
The Liberal leadership hopefuls are required to submit biweekly reports to the chief electoral officer and Carney’s team says their latest report was submitted this week and includes donations up to Feb. 9.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Chrystia Freeland’s campaign said they are “feeling very positive” after holding a number of fundraisers, but did not say how much Freeland has raised.
A representative for Frank Baylis says his campaign has raised over $350,000 and has submitted its final deposit to the Liberal Party as of Friday.
Ruby Dhalla’s campaign says it doesn’t have official numbers yet but “has been very successful.”
Karina Gould’s campaign did not release its fundraising numbers but in an email to supporters, Gould said she has also paid the full entry fee early.
There are just over three weeks to go in the leadership race, and the party will choose the next prime minister on March 9.
Earlier in the campaign, Gould asked her supporters to help her make a fundraising push in order to stay in the race.
The contestants need to raise enough to cover a $350,000 entrance fee, which is broken down into instalments. The final instalment of $125,000 is due on Monday.
The campaigns are allowed to spend a maximum of $5 million each, excluding the entrance fee and select other costs.
The leadership campaign fundraising follows the rules set out in the Elections Canada Act, and campaigns cannot accept contributions from corporations, unions, or non-residents.
Elections Canada is expected to report the first batch of fundraising numbers for all candidates next week.
In the last Liberal leadership race, Justin Trudeau raised just over $2 million. An email to supporters at the time said the money came from 10,500 individual donations and 60 different fundraisers.
That leadership race began in November 2012 and ended in April 2013, and candidates had a spending limit of $950,000.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2025.
Kyle Duggan and Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
