14% off

A fun bit of research, just for the big happy PC family who will be congregating this weekend in St. John's:

In 2008, a third party called the “ABC Campaign”, headquartered in Newfoundland, was registered under Elections Canada’s rules for the conduct of such third parties during federal electoral campaigns. The application for registration was submitted in the name of one John Babb, which is also the name of the President (then and now) of the PC Party of Newfoundland and Labrador (and potential future Chief Electoral Officer.)

The financial report of the “ABC Campaign” was authorized by its financial agent, one James Oxford, who shares a name and postal code with one Jim Oxford, who was, at the time, treasurer of the PC Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The ABC Campaign disclosed advertising expenses of $81,389.62, which, coincidentally enough, was also the exact amount of its one and only financial contribution, which came from the Progressive Conservative Association of NL. And that is almost, but not quite exactly, the same amount ($81,145) that the Progressive Conservative Party disclosed as an expenditure, under the interesting head of “ABC Campaign”, in its 2008 disclosure under provincial electoral finance rules.

The PC Party collected $594,569 in financial contributions in 2008. Large swaths of this amount would have come from Good Old Tories: the party faithful who can be counted on by the PC Party to donate, year after year, just as there are similar sets of reliable donors for the provincial Liberals and NDP.

And just as there are for the federal parties.

Which is where it gets especially interesting, since many of those good old PC donors (provincial) are also good old Conservative donors (federal).

Dividing $81,145 by $594,569, it works out that anyone (hi!) who was a Good Old Tory both provincially and federally in 2008, effectively paid fourteen cents on their provincial PC contribution dollar towards undoing whatever support, financial or otherwise, that they might have lent to the federal Conservative Party of Canada.

Have a nice convention!