The BC Liberals are on track to beat their 2021 fundraising total and the NDP is lagging behind last year’s pace.
The second quarter figures released Aug. 5 by Elections BC show the opposition party, now led by Kevin Falcon, raised $667,866.45 from April 1 to June 30 for a half-year total of $993,555.31.
In 2021, the year after their worst election defeat in three decades, they raised $1.42 million.
The ruling NDP reported $988,717.09 in donations in the second quarter, for a total of $1.73 million. In 2021, John Horgan’s party took in almost $3.6 million.
The B.C. Greens, meanwhile, have raised $471,926.57 after two quarters. They reported almost $1.1 million in 2021.
In May and June, the BC Liberals transferred $30,414.79 to Elenore Sturko’s campaign for the upcoming Surrey South by-election to replace BC Liberal Stephanie Cadieux, who quit to become the first federal chief accessibility officer.
The party transferred $106,780 to Kevin Falcon’s by-election campaign on April 29, the day before the vote, and $63,658.98 between April 7 and June 30. The Aug. 4-released report showed that Falcon spent $84,374.37 to win the Vancouver Quilchena seat over NDP rival Jeanette Ashe.
On July 15, the three parties also received their latest bi-annual instalments of taxpayer-funded allowances under a program to replace the 2017-banned corporate and union donations. Until this year, the payments were annual.
Sums for the NDP ($786,086), BC Liberals ($556,629.50) and Greens ($248,632.12) are based on $1.75 per vote from the last election and doled out every January and July.
Instead of phasing out the allowances, the NDP made them permanent - but subject to the consumer price index - beginning in 2024.