2008 Party Campaign Expense Comparisons - Greens, Bloc and Conservatives
The campaign election expense returns of the Green Party and Christian Heritage Party have now been published. Guess which party spent more (see end of post for the answer)?
As part of our continuing look at election spending patterns of the registered parties, below you will find a comparison for the main parties for 2008, followed by a comparison of their spending patterns over the past 5 elections, for each of the major parties we've heard from thus far.
You'll note that in 2008, the NDP had the highest national spending limit, because it was the only party to have a nominated candidate on the ballot in all 308 ridings.
As expected, the Green Party's campaign budget tripled from 2006 to 2008. Most of the hike was seen in the Advertising budget, especially for the broadcast media, along with substantial increases in spending on Polling ("Elections surveys or other surveys or research"), non-Leader Travel, and the party's National Office.
The Bloc Québécois moved to emphasize broadcast advertising as well in 2008, borrowing from nearly every other line item but Polling and Travel to do so.
In looking at the spending patterns of the Conservative Party, we can perhaps understand why some of their competitors hiked their advertising budgets, because the Conservative Party has spent more than half its budget in the last two campaigns on Advertising in the broadcast media, again raiding other budget lines to augment their spending in this category. It's notable that the line item for Polling is substantially less in 2008 when the party fought the election as a sitting government seeking re-election, than it was in 2006 and 2004. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in spending on Other expenses in 2008.
National Campaign Expenditures by Election and Category, Conservative Party (incl. Reform Party and Canadian Alliance pre-2004)
Once the other parties' returns are posted, I'll be updating the first table, and adding comparisons for them as well.
Now, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, the Christian Heritage Party has also filed its return, reporting expenses of $48,096.14 out of a limit of $3,789,711.98 (which is based on the number of voters in the 59 ridings in which they fielded candidates).
As part of our continuing look at election spending patterns of the registered parties, below you will find a comparison for the main parties for 2008, followed by a comparison of their spending patterns over the past 5 elections, for each of the major parties we've heard from thus far.
You'll note that in 2008, the NDP had the highest national spending limit, because it was the only party to have a nominated candidate on the ballot in all 308 ridings.
National Campaign Expenditures by Party and Category, 2008 General Election
| CATEGORY | Lib ($) | NDP ($) | Grn ($) | BQ ($) | Cons ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ads - Rad/TV | 1,579,104 | 2,377,418 | 10,266,344 | ||
| Ads - Oth | 248,091 | 402,646 | 327,685 | ||
| Leader's tour | 83,960 | 578,906 | 2,474,333 | ||
| Polls | 88,247 | 168,136 | 274,240 | ||
| Salaries | 115,404 | 501,745 | 866,261 | ||
| Prof Services | 409,405 | 79,188 | 1,785,037 | ||
| Travel | 74,030 | 371,349 | 57,820 | ||
| Natl Office | 194,488 | 20,709 | 449,423 | ||
| Other Off | 3,070 | 379,507 | 2,917,437 | ||
| TOTAL (%) | 2,795,800 (14.2%) | 4,879,604 (96.3%) | 19,418,580 (97.1%) | ||
| LIMIT | 20,014,303 | 20,063,430 | 19,751,413 | 5,066,811 | 19,999,231 |
As expected, the Green Party's campaign budget tripled from 2006 to 2008. Most of the hike was seen in the Advertising budget, especially for the broadcast media, along with substantial increases in spending on Polling ("Elections surveys or other surveys or research"), non-Leader Travel, and the party's National Office.
National Campaign Expenditures by Election and Category, Green Party
| CATEGORY | 1997 GE ($) | 2000 GE ($) | 2004 GE ($) | 2006 GE ($) | 2008 GE ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcasting | 0 | 0 | |||
| Television | 0 | 0 | |||
| Ads - Rad/TV | 25,568 | 6,485 | 1,579,104 | ||
| Ads - Oth | 0 | 497 | 150,366 | 133,604 | 248,091 |
| Leader's tour | 0 | 0 | 11,873 | 96,450 | 83,960 |
| Polls | 30,228 | 1,498 | 88,247 | ||
| Salaries | 0 | 1,280 | 217,374 | 438,102 | 115,404 |
| Prof Services | 0 | 944 | 20,276 | 77,577 | 409,405 |
| Travel | 0 | 947 | 9,414 | 16,779 | 74,030 |
| Natl Office | 0 | 0 | 33,081 | 116,229 | 194,488 |
| Rent, etc | 0 | 0 | |||
| Admin | 0 | 12,997 | |||
| Fund-raising | 0 | 0 | |||
| Misc | 0 | 1,082 | |||
| Other Off | 0 | 24,255 | 3,070 | ||
| TOTAL (%) | 0 (0.0%) | 17,747 (0.4%) | 498,179 (2.8%) | 910,979 (4.9%) | 2,795,800 (14.2%) |
| LIMIT | 3,154,376 | 4,888,177 | 17,593,925 | 18,278,279 | 19,751,413 |
The Bloc Québécois moved to emphasize broadcast advertising as well in 2008, borrowing from nearly every other line item but Polling and Travel to do so.
National Campaign Expenditures by Election and Category, Bloc Québécois
| CATEGORY | 1997 GE ($) | 2000 GE ($) | 2004 GE ($) | 2006 GE ($) | 2008 GE ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcasting | 8,430 | 0 | |||
| Television | 10,650 | 4,049 | |||
| Ads - Rad/TV | 1,443,407 | 1,434,561 | 2,377418 | ||
| Ads - Oth | 375,472 | 451,218 | 977,687 | 844,669 | 402,646 |
| Leader's tour | 109,572 | 375,999 | 389,041 | 577,432 | 578,906 |
| Polls | 56,761 | 57,512 | 168,136 | ||
| Salaries | 478,805 | 522,512 | 678,143 | 558,132 | 501,745 |
| Prof Services | 147,207 | 62,609 | 274,539 | 145,365 | 79,188 |
| Travel | 47,042 | 81,533 | 108,603 | 113,643 | 371,349 |
| Natl Office | 237,042 | 255,095 | 81,997 | 80,934 | 20,709 |
| Rent, etc | 7,671 | 14,466 | |||
| Admin | 75,572 | 76,787 | |||
| Fund-raising | 132,034 | 124,425 | |||
| Misc | 0 | 0 | |||
| Other Off | 497,353 | 715,382 | 379,507 | ||
| TOTAL (%) | 1,629,497 (54.0%) | 1,968,692 (58.2%%) | 4,511,087 (98.2%) | 4,527,630 (96.8%) | 4,879,604 (96.3%) |
| LIMIT | 3,019,087 | 3,383,175 | 4,591,748 | 4,676,677 | 5,066,811 |
In looking at the spending patterns of the Conservative Party, we can perhaps understand why some of their competitors hiked their advertising budgets, because the Conservative Party has spent more than half its budget in the last two campaigns on Advertising in the broadcast media, again raiding other budget lines to augment their spending in this category. It's notable that the line item for Polling is substantially less in 2008 when the party fought the election as a sitting government seeking re-election, than it was in 2006 and 2004. On the other hand, there was a significant increase in spending on Other expenses in 2008.
National Campaign Expenditures by Election and Category, Conservative Party (incl. Reform Party and Canadian Alliance pre-2004)
| CATEGORY | 1997 GE ($) | 2000 GE ($) | 2004 GE ($) | 2006 GE ($) | 2008 GE ($) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcasting | 7,096 | 6,918 | ||||
| Television | 2,784,615 | 6,248,111 | ||||
| Ads - Rad/TV | 5,875,764 | 8,786,108 | 10,266,344 | |||
| Ads - Oth | 411,037 | 1,312,042 | 1,402,240 | 388,284 | 327,685 | |
| Leader's tour | 1,157,709 | 1,018,363 | 3,780,432 | 3,014,367 | 2,474,333 | |
| Polls | 341,260 | 697,105 | 274,240 | |||
| Salaries | 113,670 |
| 549,975 | 874,434 | 866,261 | |
| Prof Services | 0 | 32,697 | 3,900,105 | 2,741,413 | 1,785,037 | |
| Travel | 202,157 | 377,501 | 57,485 | 90,354 | 57,820 | |
| Natl Office | 153,680 | 72,945 | 467,964 | 668,330 | 449,423 | |
| Rent, etc | 13,460 | 159,878 | ||||
| Admin | 21,545 | 179,615 | ||||
| Fund-raising | 56,764 | 81,923 | ||||
| Misc | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Other Off | 909,033 | 758,783 | 2,917,437 | |||
| TOTAL (%) | 4,921,733 (57.9%) | 9,669,648 (76.5%) | 17,284,257 (98.2%) | 18,019,180 (98.6%) | 19,418,580 (97.1%) | |
| LIMIT | 8,503,058 | 12,638,257 | 17,593,925 | 18,278,279 | 19,999,231 | |
Once the other parties' returns are posted, I'll be updating the first table, and adding comparisons for them as well.
Now, as mentioned in the opening paragraph, the Christian Heritage Party has also filed its return, reporting expenses of $48,096.14 out of a limit of $3,789,711.98 (which is based on the number of voters in the 59 ridings in which they fielded candidates).
Labels: 40th General Election, Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Election Expenses, Greens
posted by The Pundits' Guide at
10:12 AM
2 Comments:
Great tables. Look forward to seeing the data for the NDP and Libs.
Interesting how the GPC under May is so heavily oriented to advertising spending. Two-thirds of total spending.
And not just with the national campaign. The same is true of the high end spending limit campaigns of London North Centre [2006 byelection], Central Nova [May], Guelph, and Vancouver Centre... all of which derive very large proportions of their spending from national party transfers.
Heavy reliance on advertising was even true of the Northumberland-Quinte campaign that spent less than half the limit, but got no transfers from the party.
With that latter exception, the reliance on advertising would seem to follow from the imprtance of the public subsidy money, and of the GPCs lack of ground campaign experience.
Mind you, that lack of experience is going to be furthered by not spending on ground campaigns... which seems to be largely true to a large degree of most even of those spending limit campaigns.
With the notable exception of Adrienne Carr's campaign in Vancouver Centre, which reversed the now apparently typical GPC advertising versus ground campaign spending.
When you look at the pattern or reporting in those candidate campaigns there is a lot of indication that there is a substantial amount of playing with reporting categories to "stretch" spending limits. [Carr's campaign also appearing to be an exception to this.]
A bit of that 'shunting' of expenses seems to have also happened with advertising expenses, but generally it would appear to be mostly with salary and other expenses that would be for ground campaigns.
So there may be more spending on ground campaigns than is shown in the candidate campaign filings... but even with that allowance, advertising dwarfs everything else.
Ken Summers
Ken, I haven't looked at the details very closely, but in general did notice a tendency in the Green Party's candidate returns to do a lot of print advertising. That seems to be a very different pattern than what the national parties are doing here, where everything is being more and more focussed on broadcast. The newspapers can't be too happy about that, either.
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