More Bad News for the Liberal Party

I wonder if this is a glimpse of what is to come? It would be foolosh to completley write off the Liberal Party as doomed, and unable to ever make a comeback. However, it appears as though the once ”natural governing” party of Canada, that “big red machine”, has even darker times ahead.

The once-mighty Liberal party has raised less money from fewer donors so far this year than the NDP, traditionally the poor sister of Canadian politics.

Here is the current breakdown according toquarterly financial returns posted by Elections Canada:

Liberals- 35,000 donors resulting in $3.6 million

NDP- 44,000 donors resulting in $3.7 million

Conservatives- 125,000 donors resulting in $15 million

These numbers are the result of financial reforms taken in 2004 (Liberal government) and 2007 (Conservative government). As a result of the outright ban on corporate donations, it has been the Liberal party that has struggled the most. Traditionally relying on large corporate donations the party has yet to be able to adapt to the new regime. This is made worse by the fact that the Conservatives have mastered the art of collecting small donations from countless individuals.

The poor news comes at a time where the Liberals are rallying from their worst showing since Confederation (only 26.2% of the popular vote). And the bad news keeps coming. This poor electoral showing didn’t simply translate into a loss of seats but also into a loss of money. The results of the reduced vote share  translate to a loss of about $1.6 million in public subsidies.

Interesting times ahead no doubt.