NDP pulls ahead of UCP in fundraising on final day of 2020

The NDP is boasting a record for non-election year fundraising, pulling ahead of the governing UCP on the last day of the year.

Both parties took in just over $5 million, with the NDP pulling ahead by $15,657.

December 31 was the kicker for the official Opposition — amid the UCP’s travel scandal and an end-of-year fundraising push, the NDP said it raked in $210,000 in donations, more than double what it earned on that date the year prior.

In the fourth quarter, the New Democrats set a quarterly non-election year record for the party, pulling in $2,322,490. That came from 17,009 donors, including 3,859 first-timers.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said her party saw a surge in donations “on the last day of the quarter” after the UCP travel scandal broke. Just under 47 per cent of the donations to the official Opposition were made in Q4.

“Albertans are rightly frustrated and angry with Jason Kenney,” Notley said. “Jason Kenney and the UCP failed to take action to control the second wave of COVID-19, they have done very little to support people and businesses throughout this pandemic, and they have no plan to recover our economy once this is all over.”

The UCP also saw a surge in donations during the final stretch of the year — roughly 38 per cent of the donations to its coffers were made in the fourth quarter.

Unlike the NDP, the UCP fundraises through both constituency associations and the party itself. The UCP took in $3,721,112, while the UCP’s constituency associations raked in $1,325,209 throughout the year.

UCP president Ryan Becker said 2020 presented fundraising challenges, thanks to “global turmoil, an oil price war, and a pandemic,” but thanked supporters for the more than $5 million.

“We’re not taking anything for granted and the work is well underway to put our donor dollars to work now so we can win another majority government in 2023,” Becker said in a statement to AB Today.

In 2019, an election year, the UCP raised a whopping $7.3 million, while the NDP raked in about $5.5 million. The UCP also out-fundraised the New Democrats in 2018.