Big money

This chart shows the growth in business' investment in democracy in Newfoundland and Labrador since the introduction of somewhat modern campaign finance disclosure rules in 1996.

Corporate donations to the Liberals and Progressive Conservative's local candidate campaigns in each general election are shown in dark shades of the respective party colours. For comparative purposes, personal donations are also shown.

The dollar-value totals are the total amount of each class of donation to each party, divided by the number of districts in which the party fielded candidates. For example, in 2011, the average PC candidate pulled in over $13,000 in donations from corporate sources. (Contributions to the NDP, other parties, and independent candidates, and union or other classes of contributions, are excluded from discussion here.)

Two obvious observations jump out.

First, the extent to which business supporters of democracy back the winner, and back the winner more and more with each election.

And second, with the very slight exception of the Tories in 2003, the utterly anemic state of both of these parties' fundraising from their grassroots, flesh-and-blood natural-person supporters.