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The Progressive Conservatives raised $12.6 million last year twice as much as the governing Liberals by exploiting a double-dip loophole that was closed after a Star probe.

According to the latest Elections Ontario data, Patrick Browns Conservatives outperformed Premier Kathleen Wynnes Liberals, who collected $6 million, and Andrea Horwaths New Democrats, who raised $3.6 million.

All parties note their 2016 results will rise once final tallies are filed by May 31. The Liberals say theirs will be closer to $6.4 million after all the cheques are processed.

The Tory advantage stemmed from maximizing fundraising during byelection periods, a practice the Liberals mastered over the years until promising to stop because reforms were coming.

Under the old law, amended as of Jan. 1, parties could ask donors to double up and contribute an extra $9,975 in a byelection contest.

Last week, the premier insisted she has no regrets about stopping the byelection cash grab.

We thought it was the principled thing to do, she told reporters on Jan. 10.

We were changing the rules and the rules have now changed and we thought that knowing that that was happening it made good sense that we would take a principled stand and we would start to change our practices.

That said, Wynne acknowledged the Liberals had the luxury of being in better fiscal shape than the Tories, who were saddled with a large campaign shortfall from the 2014 election.

We werent dealing with the same debt. I mean, we had a different financial situation. Were going to continue to work to have a strong financial position as a party as we go into the election, she said.

The Tories, who have not won a provincial election since 1999, made no excuses about playing by the old rules right down to the wire, especially since it enabled them to clear a $7-million debt.

I have worked incredibly hard to eliminate the partys debt, but this is also very much the dedication of a huge number of enthusiastic supporters from every corner of Ontario, Brown said in an email Wednesday.

In a message to supporters last week, Tony Miele, the PC Ontario Fund chair, noted that in just 16 months, we paid off and eliminated the partys debt.

Whats more, we did this outside of an election year and we fundraised and helped finance four byelections. Simply outstanding. These types of numbers have never been achieved. Ever, Miele wrote.

This is the sign of a party that is on the right track youre going to see that trend continue. Patrick Brown will be the next premier of Ontario.

The Elections Ontario filings show, outside of the byelection periods, the Liberals took in $3.5 million from 18,498 donors; the Conservatives raised $3.1 million from 2,502 donors; and the NDP $3.2 million from 30,090 donors.

During the Nov. 17 byelections in Niagara West-Glanbrook and Ottawa-Vanier, the Tories collected $3.6 million from 1,983 contributors while the NDP brought in $54,675 from 118 donors.

Similarly, in the Sept. 1 Scarborough-Rouge River contest, the Tories raised $3.9 million from 2,998 donors and the NDP $60,106.55 from 162 donors.

Refraining from the now-banned double-dip loophole in those byelections was costly to the Liberals.

In the Feb. 11 Whitby-Oshawa race, they raised almost $2.5 million from 870 donors compared with the Tories $2 million from 3,214 donors and the NDPs $264,410 from 98 donors.

Under the new legislation, now in effect, corporate and union donations are banned, MPPs and candidates cannot attend fundraisers and the individual contribution limit has dropped to $1,200.

To offset the loss of revenue, parties have started receiving $2.71-per-vote public subsidies based on the results of the 2014 election.

The Liberals, with 1,863,974 votes, will get $5.06 million this year; the Tories, with 1,508,811 votes, $4.09 million; the NDP, with 1,144,822 votes, $3.1 million; and the Greens, with 232,536 votes, $630,000.

Officials say the first quarterly installments of those public subsidies have already been paid to the parties.

See the article here:
Tories double Liberals' fundraising tally - Toronto Star