Political fundraising dries up following spring election surge, data shows

By Canadian Press on October 31, 2025.

OTTAWA — Fresh political fundraising data shows partisan donors closed their wallets over the summer months after shelling out to fill party war chests for the spring election.

The new figures published this week by Elections Canada come just in time for fall election speculation to heat up in Ottawa as the Liberal government does not currently have the support it needs to pass the upcoming federal budget.

Quarterly party financial returns for the three month period between July and September show Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives raised $4.2 million, maintaining their fundraising edge over the Liberals which raised $2.9 million.

However the Conservative haul sunk to half of what they raised in the same quarter last year and plummeted from the $28 million raised in the first three months of this year.

The Liberal donations were also down from the $3.3 million raised in the third quarter of 2024, but that comes after raising $13 million during the first quarter period which included the party’s leadership race, and then $7.6 million in the second quarter.

The Bloc Québécois only managed about $100,000 from just under a thousand donors in the third quarter, a drop from $356,000 in the same period of 2024.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press