Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney is pulling in more money from more contributors than any of his competitors in the race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and it’s not even close, according to Elections Canada filings released Tuesday.
Carney hauled in an impressive $1.9 million in donations from 3,289 contributors, a figure that easily dwarfs the $226,661 former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland collected from 299 donors in the first leg of this Liberal leadership race.
Carney is also well ahead in the race to lock up caucus support with 83 MPs backing his candidacy so far, according to a CBC News tally of endorsements. Freeland has 26 MPs pulling for her.
Today’s financial returns combined with his overwhelming caucus support suggests Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor, is the front-runner in this race to pick the next prime minister.
The Elections Canada data covers all donations from the launch of this leadership campaign in early January to about Feb. 9.
Under Elections Canada rules, candidates must report all of their donations four weeks out from the date set by the party to pick its next leader, which is March 9. The next tranche of financial data will be revealed just days before the leadership convention.
Mark Carney’s campaign for the Liberal leadership has raised $2 million as the deadline passed for candidates to make the final payment needed to stay in the race. Four others are vying for the leadership: Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould, Ruby Dhalla and Frank Baylis.
Former government House leader Karina Gould also has a leg up on Freeland when it comes to money and the number of donors, the Elections Canada data reveals.
Gould has fundraised $236,075 from 659 contributors — that’s more than double the number of donors that Freeland has reported to this point.
Former Liberal MP and businessman Frank Baylis has also pulled in more money than Freeland with $227,441 reported so far — but his money is coming from a small pool of donors with just 59 reported to Elections Canada.
Another former Liberal MP, Ruby Dhalla, trails the field with $144,880 in donations. Dhalla’s Elections Canada filing does not yet list the number of contributors.
