A Deep(ish) Dive into the Federal NDP Leadership Fundraising Numbers
AvI Lewis has raised more money than all the other candidates combined, but he's done so by relying more on small donations than his two main rivals.
Avi Lewis’s NDP leadership campaign has proven to be a fundraising juggernaut, with the activist and filmmaker having raised more money than all of his leadership rivals combined.
Lewis has raised $1.23 million for his campaign. If you add up the $560,144 raised by Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, the $356,933 raised by International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) president Rob Ashton, the $191,607 in contributions to Campbell River, B.C., city councillor Tanille Johnston and $116,193 donated to rural Ontario organic farmer Tony McQuail, you get $1.22 million.
Fundraising totals are one proxy for a candidate’s popularity, and I would venture to guess that when the leadership results are unveiled on March 29, the candidates will finish in the above order.
But a closer look at the Elections Canada fundraising numbers tells an interesting story.
While Lewis has raised far more money than any of his opponents, his average donation size is lower than either of his two main rivals — McPherson and Ashton.
Lewis has received 11,749 donations, compared to 4,220 for McPherson, 2,396 for Ashton, 1,962 for Johnston and 1,025 for McQuail. The other four have received 9.603 combined, 18% fewer donations than Lewis alone.
An important caveat here. People can donate more than once, so the number of donations isn’t the same as the number of donors. The maximum donation amount for the contest is $1,775 total across all candidates per year. Since the leadership race has occurred through 2025 and 2026, donors are able to contribute that total twice.
If you look at the average donation size, Lewis’s is $105, significantly lower than McPherson’s $133 and Ashton’s $149. It’s also lower than McQuail’s $113, but higher than Johnston’s average of $98.
McPherson and Ashton have also received a greater proportion of their fundraising totals from donations greater than $1,000, compared to donations less than $100. For Lewis, Johnston and McQuail, it’s the reverse.
McPherson has raised $128,475 from donations exceeding $1,000, representing almost a quarter of her total haul, and $83,371 from contributions less than $100, representing 15% of her total.
Ashton has received $75,755 in donations greater than $1,000, representing one-fifth of his total, and $46,291 through donations less than $100, or 13% of his total.
For Lewis, these percentages are essentially reversed. His $141,483 in donations greater than $1,000 represent 12% of his fundraising total, and his $231,581 from donations less than $100 represents one-fifth of the full haul.
Johnston has received $14,400 from donations more than $1,000, or 7.5% of her total, and $45,487.52 from donations less than $100, or almost a quarter of her total.
McQuail has raised 11,825 in donations greater than $1,000, or roughly 10% of his total, and $21,108.83 less than $100, or 18% of his total fundraising.
Lewis’s apparently record-breaking fundraising is an important part of the story here, but I haven’t seen it noted how he’s done so with a far higher proportion of small donations than his two main rivals (McPherson and Ashton), with figures that more closely resemble the two candidates who struggled to raise the $100,000 minimum for entry into the race (Johnston and McQuail).
Who is donating to each candidate?
Now that we’ve got the number crunching out of the way, here’s the fun part. We get to see which notable donors are giving money to whom.
It’s unsurprising that Avi Lewis, with his deep family roots in the NDP, has received substantial donations from family. These include $3,500 from his mother, activist and columnist Michele Landsberg and $3,500 from his aunt, former Ontario NDP bigwig Janet Solberg. His father, former Ontario NDP leader and ambassador to the UN Stephen Lewis contributed $1,750, as did his wife, author and journalist Naomi Klein.
Lewis’s biggest donor, however, is former CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn, who has contributed a total of $3,525 to the Lewis campaign. Lewis also raised $2,040 from Life of Pi author Yann Martel, $1,750 from famed environmentalist David Suzuki, $1,500 from Mount Royal University historian and friend of The Orchard Roberta Lexier, and $1,000 each from former NDP strategist Robin Sears, activist and Border and Rule author Harsha Walia, and Brock University labour studies scholar Larry Savage.
Some notable smaller donations include $500 from former Vancouver East MP Libby Davies and $520 from former Ontario NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo.
Heather McPherson’s notable donors are overall more establishment friendly.
She’s received $3,500 each from former party president, national campaign director and 2012 leadership runner-up Brian Topp, former Alberta premier Rachel Notley, former Alberta environment minister Shannon Phillips, former party president and national director Anne McGrath, and former Ottawa Centre NDP riding association president former Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society president Oliver Kent.
McPherson received donations totalling $3,225 from her predecessor as Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MP, Linda Duncan.
Calgary-Varsity NDP MLA Luanne Metz, Sherwood Park MLA Kyle Kawaski, CUPE Alberta communications director Lou Arab, who is Notley’s husband, Fédération des conseils scolaires francophones de l’alberta chair Kevin Bell, and former federal NDP communications director George Soule each donated $1,750 to McPherson. So too did former Alberta Liberal MLA Sine Chadi, an industrial landlord.
Ontario NDP MPP Krystyn Wong-Tam, former Alberta agriculture and forestry minister Oneil Carlier, Calgary-North East NDP MLA Gurinder Brar, former South Okanagan — West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings and former St. John’s East MP Jack Harris each donated $1,000 to the McPherson campaign.
McPherson received a $500 donation from her caucus colleague Alexandre Boulerice, who is mulling entering Quebec provincial politics to run for Québec solidaire, and $500 from former Timmins—James Bay MP Charlie Angus.
Unsurprisingly, many of Rob Ashton’s prominent donors come from the labour movement.
B.C. Federation of Labour VP Joulene Parent donated a total of $3,525 to Ashton’s campaign. New Westminster and District Labour Council secretary treasurer Janet Andrews and United Steelworkers national director Marty Warren each gave Ashton $3,500, as did Calgary-Elbow NDP MLA Samir Kayande.
Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) president Bea Bruske donated $2,500 to Ashton’s campaign and UFCW national president Barry Sawyer contributed $1,775.
Nanaimo Lantzville NDP MLA George Anderson, ILWU Local 333 president Douglas Lea-Smith and CLC Atlantic director Danielle Sampson each donated $1,750 to Ashton.
N.W.T. Federation of Labour president Sara-Jayne Dempster contributed $1,100, and former Ontario and Saskatchewan NDP staffer Tom Parkin donated $1,000.
Tanille Johnston received $750 from former Vancouver city councillor Andrea Reimer, $500 from B.C. Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson and $150 from former B.C. environment minister George Heyman.
Fellow leadership candidates Avi Lewis and Tony McQuail donated $500 and $224 to Johnston’s campaign, respectively.
Tony McQuail received a $500 donation from former Hamilton Centre MP Matthew Green, $200 from Lewis and $50 from activist and commentator Judy Rebick, who has endorsed Lewis.
Some people donated to multiple campaigns.
Former Ontario NDP leader Howard Hampton donated $800 to McPherson and $200 to Johnston.
Megan Leslie, the former Halifax MP who is now the CEO of the World Wildlife Fund, gave $400 to Lewis and $200 to Johnston.
Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, gave $300 each to McPherson, Ashton and Johnston.
Former Edmonton Public School Board chair Trisha Estabrooks, who ran for the federal NDP in Edmonton Centre and now works for Friends of Medicare, gave $500 to McPherson and $50 to Johnston. Estabrooks has endorsed McPherson.
While this is very interesting Jeremy, it is also very disturbing that the donation list is public. More so because an NDP leadership vote is currently being held and has not ended, and I naively thought that my donation to a candidate was a private matter. Now not only has my personal information been disclosed but so has that of other people that I know.
I am certainly distressed that this article contains the name list of donors.
Interesting read. Thanks Jeremy!