Avi Lewis leads in fundraising, but experts say Heather McPherson and Rob Ashton are still in contention.

The race to lead the New Democrat Party is officially underway.

Voting opened on March 9 and ends March 29, when the party will gather in Winnipeg for the NDP convention.

Five leadership contestants are in the race to replace former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh: Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, labour leader Rob Ashton, activist and documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis, social worker and Campbell River Coun. Tanille Johnston and organic farmer Tony McQuail.

Sanjay Jeram, a political science lecturer at Simon Fraser University, said Ashton, McPherson and Lewis have emerged as the race’s three front-runners.

Lewis has been able to fundraise more than twice as much money as the next candidate, with nearly three times as many people contributing to his campaign.

  • acargitz
    1·
    10 days ago

    Elections Canada interim campaign returns show Lewis has taken the lead in fundraising, having brought in $1.2 million from more than 10,400 contributors. Elections Canada data shows MacPherson has raised $560,000 from more than 3,800 contributors, while labour leader Rob Ashton has raised nearly $360,000 in contributions from more than 2,000 supporters. McQuail has raised more than $112,000 from over 800 contributors. Elections Canada has yet to publish Johnston’s fundraising numbers.

    Lewis’ average donation comes to 115$ per donor

    McPherson’s comes to 147$ per donor

    Ashton’s is 180$ per donor

    Mcquail’s is 140$ per donor

    So in fact the person who has raised the most, has done it for as smaller average donation per donor. That tells you something about his appeal to the electors.

    It’s not about more money, it’s about more commitment from more people.

    • melsaskca
      1·
      9 days ago

      You almost had me there until you said “it’s not about more money”.

      • acargitz
        3·
        9 days ago

        I don’t understand where I lost you. What I meant is: what’s important here is not the amount of money. If the guy was connected to billionaires, he could have raised all that money from like 3 people. The impressive thing about the Lewis campaign is that because of the lower average donation, the overall amount is an indication of a much broader appeal. So it’s not the amount that’s impressive, it’s the broad appeal of the candidate to the NDP member base. This is compounded by the higher average donation of his opponents, which means that they appeal to fewer, more well-off donors, and still didn’t manage to out-fundraise him.