Angry in the Great White North

At some point, Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion is going to have to fire someone.  I mean, this is getting embarrassing.  Liberal Party fundraising has imploded:

(click to enlarge)

The Conservatives raised $4,954,550.22 from 44,345 contributors, or an average of $111 per contributor.  The Liberals pulled in $846,129.37 from 10,169 contributors, of $83 per contributor.  The NDP was able to tap into more contributors (over 13,000) for marginally more than the Liberals (an average of $84) to beat out the Liberals by pulling in $1,119,647.67.

So the Liberals have the smallest and most miserly contribution base of the three federal parties (the Bloc Quebecois just runs in Quebec, so we'll leave them out, and when the Green Party actually wins a seat, I'll start paying attention to them).

The real jaw-dropper is the change from last quarter:

Conservative Party:

• 4,892,921.63 in the quarter ending December 2007
• 4,954,550.22 in the quarter ending March 2008
• increase of 61,628.59 (up by 1%)

Liberal Party:

• 1,944,946.11 in the quarter ending December 2007
• 846,129.37 in the quarter ending March 2008
• decrease of 1,098,816.74 (a drop of 56%)

NDP:

• 1,424,524.23 in the quarter ending December 2007
• 1,119,647.67 in the quarter ending March 2008
• decrease of 304,876.56 (a drop of 21%)

Only the Conservatives are holding on to their donation base.  The NDP took a hit, but the Liberals have imploded, pulling in less than half of the donations that they took in last quarter.

What was that about the more people saw of Stephane Dion, the more they'd like him?  The number of contributors to the Conservative Party remained virtually unchanged (from 44,324 to 44,345) while the Liberals lost 25% of their contributors (10,169 contributors by March 2008, while 13,618 contributed through the quarter before).

Maybe Liberals are holding on to their money in case, by some miracle, their guy wins.  They know better than anyone else that that would mean the GST going up and new gas taxes and carbon taxes.

More likely they are just fed up with giving money for...well...nothing.

The data from Elections Canada does not break down by region, so an unanswered question for now is whether the Liberals have lost support in certain regions only, or across the board.

But before I leave this, let's just put this into perspective. 

The money that the Liberal Party as a whole raise this quarter would barely pay off Stephane Dion's leadership debts (last reported to be about $800,000).

Or here's another way to look at it.  Consider Michael Ignatieff's recent fundraiser:

Liberal deputy leader Michael Ignatieff is hoping to wipe out most of his $300,000 leadership debt on Thursday with a huge fundraising dinner in Toronto. More than 500 people, each paying between $400 and $500, are to attend the event at the Fairmont Royal York - expected to be the largest gathering of Liberals since the 2006 leadership convention in Montreal.

That is nearly half of what the entire party under Stephane Dion was able to raise with three months of effort.

Hello, I'm calling on behalf of the Liberal Party of Canada.  Stephane Dion needs your help to...what?  Help to stop Stephen Harp...what?  Well, yes, I suppose Stephane Dion could have stopped Harper half a dozen times already...but Canadians didn't want an election...yes...well...not the Liberals either...yes, it was a funny skit.  Hah-hah.  Yes, well, I suppose I'm asking for a donation even though we aren't actually doing anything for the time being...but soon we will...really...so how much can I put you down for?  Uh-huh.  I see.  Um, that word is not a number...

At some point, Liberals will have to admit that Stephane Dion is not able to prepare the Liberal Party for an election, nor for a protracted fight through the summer if an election does not happen.

The polls say that clearly.

The fundraising says that clearly.

I wonder if a revolt might happen, and Liberal MPs will simply ignore Stephane Dion's orders for another abstention and just vote down the government to force an election, and force a change at the top.