Carney leads in fundraising as Freeland says party numbers don’t tell the whole story

Mark Carney, candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, speaks during a news conference in Vancouver, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

OTTAWA — Chrystia Freeland’s Liberal leadership campaign is insisting that fundraising numbers released Tuesday don’t give an accurate picture of her haul during the first part of the race.

Campaign data released by Elections Canada for the campaign period ending Feb. 9 shows Freeland raised just over $226,661, putting her behind presumed front-runner Mark Carney -- whose campaign raised $1.9 million from 11,260 contributions -- and behind candidates Karina Gould and Frank Baylis.

But Freeland campaign spokesperson Katherine Cuplinskas said the campaign’s fundraising haul is actually in the ballpark of $600,000, and came from more than 2,000 contributions.

The campaign posted a statement on its social media account late Tuesday afternoon that said this release of “Elections Canada data doesn’t tell the whole story.”

“Campaigns could either receive donations directly or let the Liberal party hold onto them -- we’re the only campaign who chose the latter,” Freeland’s account said, adding the campaign is debt-free.

Cuplinskas said that because the Liberal party did not remit some of the direct contributions over the financial reporting period, that money wasn’t captured in this batch of data. She said the campaign decided against having the party send it the money as a way to avoid credit card and wire transfer fees.

Leadership candidates had to scramble for donations during the first leg of the race to cover a steep $350,000 entry fee. The final instalment was due on Monday and all five candidates paid it on time.

Freeland’s entry fee would have come out of that pool of funds the party held.

Liberal party spokesperson Parker Lund confirmed the party sometimes withholds funds but did not comment on Freeland’s specific situation.

“The party can withhold part or all of the contribution to cover a contestant’s contest fee or other administrative expenses,” he said in an email. “In these instances, the campaign does not report a contribution that is fully withheld.”

Gould’s campaign seems pleased that it came out ahead of Freeland in the fundraising report, which shows her bringing in $236,075 from 1,375 contributions.

“The latest fundraising numbers confirm what we’ve been feeling on the ground -- our momentum is growing each day,” said campaign spokesperson Emily Jackson.

Baylis, a Montreal businessman, raised $227,441, while candidate Ruby Dhalla came in last with $144,880.

All this drama comes as Carney is wooing party members on a campaign swing through southern Ontario.

He had two fundraisers on his agenda Tuesday in Mississauga and Brampton, and another two scheduled for Wednesday in Toronto and Woodbridge.

Carney has held two fundraisers in Vancouver and Ottawa already.

The data shows a crop of Liberal back roomers from the Justin Trudeau era shelled out for Carney, including his former principal secretary Gerry Butts, and Elder Marques and Cyrus Reporter, both of whom were advisers to Trudeau in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Also on the Carney donors list is Stephen Bronfman, the Liberal’s current chief revenue officer and a longtime Trudeau friend and adviser.

Former cabinet ministers Bill Morneau and Scott Brison also donated the maximum amount to Carney -- $1,750 each.

Former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff donated to both Carney and Freeland.

Freeland’s team said it has held nearly ten fundraisers so far. Gould has not held any such events to date.

The next batch of fundraising data will land just a few days ahead of the vote on March 9.

By Kyle Duggan

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2025.