Latest news with #Poilievre
Vancouver Sun
12 hours ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Liberals shrink fundraising gap with Conservatives to closest since Poilievre became Tory leader
OTTAWA — New fundraising figures show the Liberal Party of Canada has shrunk its fundraising gap with the Conservative Party of Canada, lagging by just $1.4 million in the last quarter. That's the closest the two parties have been since Pierre Poilievre became Conservative leader. Second-quarter fundraising reports filed with Elections Canada show Poilievre's Conservatives raked in $9 million, while Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals raised $7.6 million during the same period. The period, from April to June, includes most of the federal election campaign that ran from March 23 to April 28, with the Liberals eventually winning a minority government. 'Grassroots Liberals' record-breaking support this year helped deliver our largest vote share since 1980 in the last election, with Mark Carney and our new Liberal government earning a strong mandate to unite, secure, protect, and build our country,' wrote Liberal party spokesman Matteo Rossi. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'The Liberal Party of Canada is in one of the strongest positions for fundraising and grassroots organizing in the party's history, achieving our best-ever first and second quarters for fundraising this year, with more donors chipping in Q1 alone than in any single year in our history.' The Conservative party has not yet responded to a request for comment. The gap of $1.4 million is the closest the Liberals have been to their Conservative rivals since September 2022, when Poilievre became Conservative leader . Fundraising reports back then show the Conservatives had brought in around $730,000 more in contributions than the Liberals for the quarter. The gap quickly widened, with the Conservatives out-fundraising all other federal parties by millions , particularly throughout 2024, where the party celebrated smashing the previous fundraising records for all political parties by raking in a total of $41.7 million, up from the $35.2 million it raised during Poilievre's first full year as leader. For the first three months of 2025, the Tories raked in $28 million from roughly 149,000 donors. The Liberals, by comparison, raised around $13 million during the first quarter from around 156,000 donors. The latest second-quarter fundraising data, published by Elections Canada on Wednesday evening, shows the Liberals continued to see an uptick in individual donors contributing to the party. Figures posted for June 2025 show the Liberals had around 116,000 donors, while the Tories received donations from roughly 83,000 donors. That represents a massive spike for the Liberals, who closed the fourth quarter of 2024 with around 34,000 donors contributing to it during that period, while the Conservatives saw roughly 62,000 donors send money into its coffers. The Liberals have also seen a jump in the number of contributors donating $200 or less. Filings show that of the 116,00 donors who contributed in the second quarter of this year, almost 110,000 gave under $200. Of the 156,000 contributors during the first quarter of this year, coinciding with the Liberals' leadership race, almost 145,000 gave the same. That reflects how, during the leadership race that ran from January to early March, more than two-thirds of the donations to now Prime Minister Mark Carney's campaign for leader were less than $100, according to some of the filings at the time. Carney was elected Liberal leader in March, replacing former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who had become deeply unpopular, including among many Liberals. According to Elections Canada filings, the federal New Democrats raised around $1.9 million during the second quarter of 2025, from around 38,000 donors. The Bloc Québécois raised almost 675,000 from roughly 4,500 donors. National Post staylor@ Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here .
Edmonton Journal
12 hours ago
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Liberals shrink fundraising gap with Conservatives to closest since Poilievre became Tory leader
OTTAWA — New fundraising figures show the Liberal Party of Canada has shrunk its fundraising gap with the Conservative Party of Canada, lagging by just $1.4 million in the last quarter. That's the closest the two parties have been since Pierre Poilievre became Conservative leader. Article content Second-quarter fundraising reports filed with Elections Canada show Poilievre's Conservatives raked in $9 million, while Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals raised $7.6 million during the same period. The period, from April to June, includes most of the federal election campaign that ran from March 23 to April 28, with the Liberals eventually winning a minority government. Article content Article content Article content 'Grassroots Liberals' record-breaking support this year helped deliver our largest vote share since 1980 in the last election, with Mark Carney and our new Liberal government earning a strong mandate to unite, secure, protect, and build our country,' wrote Liberal party spokesman Matteo Rossi. Article content Article content 'The Liberal Party of Canada is in one of the strongest positions for fundraising and grassroots organizing in the party's history, achieving our best-ever first and second quarters for fundraising this year, with more donors chipping in Q1 alone than in any single year in our history.' Article content The gap of $1.4 million is the closest the Liberals have been to their Conservative rivals since September 2022, when Poilievre became Conservative leader. Fundraising reports back then show the Conservatives had brought in around $730,000 more in contributions than the Liberals for the quarter. Article content Article content The gap quickly widened, with the Conservatives out-fundraising all other federal parties by millions, particularly throughout 2024, where the party celebrated smashing the previous fundraising records for all political parties by raking in a total of $41.7 million, up from the $35.2 million it raised during Poilievre's first full year as leader. Article content Article content For the first three months of 2025, the Tories raked in $28 million from roughly 149,000 donors. The Liberals, by comparison, raised around $13 million during the first quarter from around 156,000 donors. Article content The latest second-quarter fundraising data, published by Elections Canada on Wednesday evening, shows the Liberals continued to see an uptick in individual donors contributing to the party.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pierre Poilievre and the ballot box
Opinion The Aug. 18 vote in the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot is more than a byelection to fill a vacant seat in Parliament. It is, for all intents and purposes, a referendum on one man's relevance in Canadian politics. That man is of course Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative Party of Canada leader who failed in his re-election bid for the Ottawa-area constituency of Carleton, which he lost to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy in April's federal election. Despite having increased the CPC's seat count (from 120 to 144) and share of the popular vote, Poilievre's electoral failure was twofold, losing his own seat as well as not delivering the Conservative majority that was, mere months earlier, considered a foregone conclusion. ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre Having successfully harnessed Canadians' dissatisfaction with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau's government, Poilievre had built such an overwhelming lead in public-opinion polls that it was assumed the next election would propel the CPC to a massive majority. But the smooth-paved path to a Conservative coronation was suddenly made very bumpy, first by Trudeau's resignation and second by a sudden shift in Canadian attitudes. For the past half-decade, Poilievre's strategy for attracting would-be voters into the CPC tent involved not much more or less than mirroring whatever seemed to be working for Donald Trump south of the border. Insults, name-calling, concocting alternate-reality 'facts,' demonizing opponents and the media, pandering to the extreme fringes of the right … you name it; if it worked for Trump, Poilievre seemed eager to give it a go. And it worked well — until it didn't. Trump's tariff threats and unhinged musings about annexing Canada as the 51st U.S. state did not sit well here; rather abruptly, trying to sound and act like Trump became the absolute worst thing for a Canadian politician to do. Poilievre, trapped in the Trump-lite image he had worked so diligently to create, saw his prime ministerial aspirations evaporate. On election night in Carleton — a Conservative stronghold he had held since 2004, through seven federal elections — Poilievre lost by more than 4,500 votes. The CPC remained in opposition; leader Poilievre was on the outside looking in and looking for a way back in. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. He and the party decided the most direct route back to Parliament Hill runs through Battle River-Crowfoot, a riding so deep Tory blue that incumbent CPC candidate Damien Kurek received 82.8 per cent of the votes cast last spring. At the first available opportunity, Kurek resigned so Poilievre could run in his place. The polling agency 338Canada currently puts the odds of Poilievre winning the byelection at 99 per cent. But that doesn't mean it won't get messy. Thanks to the mischief-inclined Longest Ballot Committee, more than 200 candidates have registered, forcing Elections Canada to create special ballots. And some in the rural constituency are unhappy that a 'parachute' candidate — one who's now touting his deep Alberta roots despite having left oil country behind more than two decades ago — is being foisted on them rather than the true-blue Albertan they chose as their MP. At a candidates' forum on Tuesday night, military veteran and independent candidate Bonnie Critchley — a self-described staunch conservative who voted for Kurek and views his exit to make room for Poilievre as cynical — put it this way: 'I firmly believe that Mr. Poilievre is too busy with his personal ambitions to give a rat's backside about us.' Time will tell how many more in this sparsely populated patch of eastern Alberta agree. Poilievre's reputation, and relevance, are on the line. Anything less than a massive landslide win will surely be viewed as a second consecutive ballot-box repudiation.
Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Crown attorneys' group denounces 'attacks' on justice system during Freedom Convoy, Hockey Canada trials
OTTAWA — The president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association says 'attacks' launched by 'politicians, media and members of the public' in response to two high-profile criminal cases amount to 'affronts to the rule of law.' Article content 'Be they attacks on prosecutorial independence or sexist attacks on principles of fundamental justice, these actions are affronts to the rule of law,' Donna Kellway wrote in an open letter. Article content Article content 'Personal attacks on Crowns seeking a significant sentence are nothing less than attacks on prosecutorial independence. These attacks do not — nor will they ever — drive the decisions made by our prosecutors.' Article content Article content Kellway said in an email to The Canadian Press that the letter refers to reaction to Crown sentencing proposals in the cases of two people associated with the 'Freedom Convoy' protest and criticism of counsel in the recent Hockey Canada trial based on their gender. Article content Several Conservative MPs, along with party leader Pierre Poilievre, have criticized the Crown's approach to sentencing two key organizers of the Freedom Convoy. Article content Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who have yet to be sentenced, were convicted of mischief in April for their roles in organizing the protest, which blockaded streets around Parliament Hill for more than three weeks in early 2022. Article content Article content 'Let's get this straight: while rampant violent offenders are released hours after their most recent charges and antisemitic rioters vandalize businesses, terrorize daycares and block traffic without consequences, the Crown wants seven years prison time for the charge of mischief for Lich and Barber,' Poilievre wrote on social media last week. Article content Article content In her own social media post, deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said that if 'the Crown suddenly wants to apply the law – equal application of law would be a good start – but this is political vengeance not actual justice and it's why trust in our institutions is dwindling.' Article content Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said that while he 'liked' what Poilievre had to say, he shouldn't have said it. Article content 'The separation of church and state, in this case legislature from judiciary, is something that is highly valued in our country,' Greenspon said outside an Ottawa courthouse last week.
Vancouver Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Crown attorneys' group denounces 'attacks' on justice system during Freedom Convoy, Hockey Canada trials
OTTAWA — The president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association says 'attacks' launched by 'politicians, media and members of the public' in response to two high-profile criminal cases amount to 'affronts to the rule of law.' 'Be they attacks on prosecutorial independence or sexist attacks on principles of fundamental justice, these actions are affronts to the rule of law,' Donna Kellway wrote in an open letter. 'Personal attacks on Crowns seeking a significant sentence are nothing less than attacks on prosecutorial independence. These attacks do not — nor will they ever — drive the decisions made by our prosecutors.' Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Kellway said in an email to The Canadian Press that the letter refers to reaction to Crown sentencing proposals in the cases of two people associated with the 'Freedom Convoy' protest and criticism of counsel in the recent Hockey Canada trial based on their gender. Several Conservative MPs, along with party leader Pierre Poilievre, have criticized the Crown's approach to sentencing two key organizers of the Freedom Convoy. Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who have yet to be sentenced, were convicted of mischief in April for their roles in organizing the protest, which blockaded streets around Parliament Hill for more than three weeks in early 2022. 'Let's get this straight: while rampant violent offenders are released hours after their most recent charges and antisemitic rioters vandalize businesses, terrorize daycares and block traffic without consequences, the Crown wants seven years prison time for the charge of mischief for Lich and Barber,' Poilievre wrote on social media last week. 'How is this justice?' In her own social media post, deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman said that if 'the Crown suddenly wants to apply the law – equal application of law would be a good start – but this is political vengeance not actual justice and it's why trust in our institutions is dwindling.' Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said that while he 'liked' what Poilievre had to say, he shouldn't have said it. 'The separation of church and state, in this case legislature from judiciary, is something that is highly valued in our country,' Greenspon said outside an Ottawa courthouse last week. In the Toronto Star, a recent opinion piece by a staff columnist questioned why female lawyers would represent men accused of sexual crimes in the Hockey Canada trial. 'A lawyer's gender plays no role in determining one's eligibility to participate in either the lawful prosecution or the vigorous defence of any charge in our criminal justice system. To suggest otherwise is to undermine the very principles upon which the rule of law is based,' Kellway wrote. 'Such attacks show a fundamental lack of understanding of our foundational constitutional principles, including the presumption of innocence, the right to a fair trial and equality.' Kellway said Canadians have seen political attacks on the justice system south of the border and must do everything they can to safeguard the system's independence. — With files from Sarah Ritchie Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
