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OTTAWA — The federal Tories slid to second place in party contributions for the second quarter of 2009 — which might help explain the recent election talk of Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.
Returns filed with Elections Canada show that for the three-month period to the end of June, the Conservatives attracted $3,957,662 in contributions, ahead of their take for the same period last year, which was about $3.5 million.
They also increased the number of individual contributors to that total, convincing more than 35,000 Canadians to part with their money this year. Last year, 33,833 donated to the Tories in the March-June period.
Even so, they were nipped by the resurgent Liberals, whose final Elections Canada tally for March to June this year was just over $4 million.
In fact, the Liberals, at a cumulative $5.9 million for the first six months of 2009 under Ignatieff’s leadership, are very close to raising what they did for all of last year when the party was led by Stephane Dion. And they’ve doubled their number of individual contributors to that tally, from about 9,500 to about 19,500.
Conservative party executive director Don Plett said the Tories aren’t worried.
“When you look at the number of contributors, we are outpacing the Liberals two to one,” he said. “I think that bodes well for us.”
Plett said raising small amounts from many people — a strategy the Conservatives have mastered — is an advantage whenever there is an election threat.
“It’s not that difficult to write $100 cheques ‘just in case.’ It’s much more difficult to write $500 cheques ‘just in case,’” he said.
“There’s no doubt that Mr. Ignatieff has made it clear that he has every intention of considering bringing us down in the fall.”
Ignatieff was relatively quiet for much of July but as the Tories and Liberals have continued to clash over employment insurance, he told CTV last week: “I have always tried to work with the government, trying to put the country first, but it’s getting tougher and tougher.”
An opposition day in the House of Commons in September is his first chance to topple the government.
Queen’s University political scientist Kathy Brock cautioned against hasty election moves. Ignatieff has plateaued in the polls, she pointed out, while the Conservatives aren’t making the gains they had hoped for either.
“Canadians don’t want an election and they don’t want an election if we’re going to get the same result, or just a slight flip of government with the Liberals in the minority situation,” she said.
christina.spencer@sunmedia.ca
Fundraising for first six months of 2009:
NDP: $1.83 million
Conservatives: $8.32 million
Green Party of Canada: $410,000.
Liberal party of Canada: $5.91 million
Bloc Quebecois: $332,444