Christine Elliott is the money leader so far in this leadership race rounding out the pack of four leadership contenders. Membership sales closed days ago and the campaign enters its persuasion phase.
| Candidate | Christine Elliott | Frank Klees | Tim Hudak | Randy Hillier |
| Total raised | $315,100 | $62,517 | $153,940 | $91,809 |
| Average donation | $2046.10 | $2604.88 | $1241.45 | $1311.56 |
| Median donation | $500 | $740 | $500 | $142.50 |
| Donations | 154 | 24 | 124 | 70 |
A few observations are noteworthy. The Hudak campaign had claimed at membership cut off time that donations would surpass $200,000. Since we are about 5 days past the close of membership sales and noting that donations must be declared within 10 days, the campaign may have indeed raised $200k by the membership cutoff date. Despite this, the Elliott campaign more than doubles the Hudak campaign in fundraising contributions. Frank Klees, who is the perceived front-runner in membership sales checks in with a disappointing $62,517. He’ll need to raise a lot more in order to effectively convert the thousands of memberships that he’s reportedly sold come (leadership) election day. Randy Hillier makes a respectful showing with $91,809, a sum that includes two donations from federal MP Scott Reid ($30,000) and himself ($25,000).
Cumulatively, the four PC leadership contenders have so far taken in 16 donations of $10,000 or over. Here they are:
| Scott Reid | $30,000.00 | HILLIER |
| CIC Developments Inc. | $25,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Cougs Investments Ltd. | $25,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Steven Pietrobon | $25,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Phillip Sutherland | $25,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Shiplake Management Company | $25,000.00 | HUDAK |
| Randy Hillier | $25,000.00 | HILLIER |
| Pace Credit Union | $20,000.00 | KLEES |
| David Cynamon | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Howard Holdings Corp | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Joanne Love | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Peter Westaway | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Ross Whalen | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Robert Wilson | $10,000.00 | ELLIOTT |
| Steane Consulting Ltd. | $10,000.00 | HUDAK |
| Mass Insurance Brokers Ltd. | $10,000.00 | KLEES |
All data accurate from Elections Canada as of 9:15pm EST May 19th, 2009
Stephen Taylor is a scientist, political analyst and a blogger. Taylor writes here regularly and is the founder of bloggingtories.ca. Taylor has contributed to Macleans, CTV, talk radio and has been a featured speaker on new media at numerous events including the Western Standard Cruise and the Forum for Public Policy. In December 2008, Taylor organized Rally for Canada, a series of rallies held coast-to-coast to protest the proposed coalition government.
May 19th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
It looks like Elliot got the lions share of $10,000+ donations. Probably because of her flat tax.
May 20th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Regardless of who the donatins are from or the size, that is a lot of money from people in a have not province. Guess the recession isn't as deep as they say.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Mark Dawkins: “But, I guess when your husband is Finance Minister….”
Just what are you saying Mark? I just want to be clear.
May 20th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Mark you should take a closer look at the numbers posted above. When you take out the big donations, Elliott still has a small edge on Hudak in total raised, and in the number of donors. It looks to me like she matches Hudak's grassroots donations and then adds the big donors on top. Nothing wrong with that!
May 20th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I just got a call from someone who told me that memberships were due (in hard copy) at the party offices in downtown Toronto last night – Tuesday. Tim Hudak’s campaign did not not submit their memberships. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they don’t have the 14,000 they claimed, or perhaps the rules don’t apply to Hudak’s campaign when the party has fixed the process for him.
May 20th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
To Jack Redpath –
“I just got a call from someone who told me that memberships were due (in hard copy) at the party offices in downtown Toronto last night – Tuesday. Tim Hudak’s campaign did not not submit their memberships. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they don’t have the 14,000 they claimed, or perhaps the rules don’t apply to Hudak’s campaign when the party has fixed the process for him.”
That sure sounds a bit dodgy to me! I would like to find out more about that one! Please keep us posted! What happens to those memberships?
May 20th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Sarah – and Nathalie – as I noted above you might want to do some math. If you take out Elliott's 10K+ people, she still raised the same amount as Hudak, from the same number of people, meaning they both have equal fundraising support from the broad base. Elliott just has more high end support which is also important.
Actually if you take out Elliott's 10K+ AND Hudak's 10K+ then Elliott leads Hudak in number of donors and total donations.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:11 am
I'm not finished read this yet, but it's so fabulous 'n I'll back again when I was finished my job
March 6th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I'm not finished read this yet, but it's so fabulous 'n I'll back again when I was finished my job