Annual financial returns for Canada's political parties

Elections Canada today released the annual financial returns for each political party.

It's no longer news that the Conservatives are kicking butt when it comes to fundraising. That party received contributions in 2007 of nearly $17-million — that's more than twice as much as every other federal party combined. The Liberals received $4.48-million plus a $2-million loan for a grand total of $6.79-million. They know — believe me, they know — that their fundraising weakness compared to their main rival is not sustainable and they are working towards improving their efforts in that area.

The Conservatives, for their part, are not resting on their laurels. The famous database that Tom Flanagan talked about in his book was based on membership lists that originate from the old Reform days. That database has only been up and running in Quebec in the last year or so. In other words, the fundraising techniques that the Tories have applied to reap millions from English Canada are only now being fine-tuned, presumably with the same efficiency, for French Canada.

Meanwhile, the other three major parties continue to do relatively well. The Greens, in particular, are drawing support from all mainstream parties although the conventional thinking in Ottawa these days is that any Conservatives that were going to defect have already done so and new membership growth is coming at the expense of the uncommitted, former Liberals, former NDPers and former péquistes — but not necessarily in that order.

So, after downloading some of the numbers from Elections Canada Web site (I appreciate that they're trying and all the data is, in fact, there, but, jeepers, it's tough to grab the raw data so you can run your own tables and analysis ….) here's some other numbers:

In 2007:

• The Conservatives found 107,492 individuals who contributed $20 or more during the year. Of those, 24,669 different people wrote the party one or more cheques worth $200 or more during the year. (Those people must be identified under election finance laws). These folks collectively contributed $16.98-million during the year. Average donation: $158
• The Liberals convinced 23,442 individuals — about one-fifth the number of Conservatives — to donate to its national party. Of those, 5,672 donated $200 or more at least once during the year. Collectively, these folks donated $4.47-million. Average donation: $191
  
  The NDP raised $3,959,451 (less than $500,000 separates the NDP's annual fundraising total from the Liberals!) from 23,303 contributors (just about the same number of Canadians kicked in to the NDP as they did to the Liberals). Average donation: $170.
• The Greens found $972,021 from 10,081 contributors. Of those, 1,047 contributors donated $200 or more. Overall average donation: $96
• The Bloc Québecois received contributions from $429,971.48 during the year, from 4,486 individuals. Average donation: $96.

Just to highlight those average donations: If the Liberals can, in fact, get it in gear, they should be find fundraising success simply because their donors tend to give more. Surprisingly, the average NDP donor is more generous to his or her party than the average Conservative supporter. Conservatives are able to thrive because they've found ways to cheaply raise $20 at a time. Pollsters say Green voters tend to be more affluent but you wouldn't know it by their average donation. They're right down there with the BQ at $96. Perhaps the relative youth of the Green wave accounts for low average donations.

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