Liberal leadership candidates clear a challenging fundraising hurdle

A stagehand works on the stage in between presenters at the 2023 Liberal National Convention in Ottawa, on Thursday, May 4, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

OTTAWA — The campaign teams for the remaining Liberal leadership contestants all confirmed Friday they have cleared a major fundraising hurdle, allowing them to remain in the race.

The campaigns said they have each paid the party $125,000 that was due today — part of an instalment plan to manage a hefty total entry fee of $350,000.

The candidates will have to come up with a final payment of $125,000 by Feb. 17.

Former Liberal House leader Karina Gould’s campaign confirmed Friday afternoon she cleared the bar and said the average individual donation to her campaign was $150.

Her campaign raised questions about how long she could stay in the race when it sent out a fundraising email Tuesday night warning supporters she needed to raise $100,000 by the 5 p.m. deadline.

She said Thursday the party establishment tried “as hard as possible” to keep the number of candidates low and that she was working to meet an “extremely aggressive” fundraising deadline.

Nova Scotia MP Jaime Battiste, who was the only First Nations candidate in the race, was forced to drop out of the running when the last payment deadline arrived a week ago. He said his campaign struggled to raise the funds in such a short time.

A spokesperson for candidate Frank Baylis, a former Liberal MP and Montreal businessman, confirmed Friday the party received his payment.

Baylis told a press conference Thursday that he would meet all the fundraising deadlines.

“I understand the party. It’s in a very difficult position. This is a very condensed race. We have a very short time period,” he said. “But I respect what the party is doing, and we’re going to work within the confines of the rules that the parties laid out.”

Sakshi Mehrotra, a spokesperson for former MP Ruby Dhalla’s campaign, said in an email she raised the $125,000 and sent the money off to the party Friday morning.

Former central bank governor Mark Carney and former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, widely seen as the front-runners, have both made their payments as well.

The Liberal party is looking to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in record time. Trudeau announced Jan. 6 that he would step down as soon as a new leader was elected, and prorogued Parliament until March 24. The party later announced it would elect its next leader on March 9.

The candidates will meet in two debates — one in English and one in French — after the Feb. 17 final fee payment deadline passes.

The party reported a week ago that nearly 400,000 supporters registered as members to vote in the leadership race before the deadline.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2025.

Michel Saba and Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press