Who do you hope next leads the federal Conservatives?

Poll: Tory leadership race

Photo: The Canadian Press

New data from Elections Canada offers a glimpse into the fundraising efforts of each Conservative leadership campaign — and how the battle for donor dollars has tightened leading up to the final results.

Second-quarter contribution numbers for the Conservative party show Erin O'Toole moved ahead of rival Peter MacKay to become the fundraising leader between April and June, bringing in $1.24 million in leadership donations.

But MacKay wasn't far behind, raising $1.16 million over the same period.

In the first quarter of this year, MacKay had the most in donations with $1.04 million, coming in ahead of O'Toole, who raised $785,000.

Meanwhile, Leslyn Lewis, who is backed by many social conservative groups, more than doubled her fundraising totals compared to earlier in the year, raising $996,000 in donations last quarter, up from about $448,000.

Lewis also attracted more individual donors than the four other candidates this quarter at just over 10,000 contributors, compared to 8,900 donors for O'Toole and 6,800 donors for MacKay.

Some donors may have donated more than once, so these numbers are approximate.

Derek Sloan, who is also courting the social conservative vote, raised $329,000, down slightly from the $410,000 he raised in the first quarter of 2020.

Read more.

Have an opinion? Send it to [email protected]