Follow the Money - Elections Ontario

As we enter an election year in 2011 I wanted to go back and check the financial status of the 5 major political parties in Ontario as of the end of 2009. The following information was obtained from Elections Ontario. www.elections.on.ca

So leading the pack with a surplus was the Ontario Liberal Party at $ 1,726,395.45. Next up was the Ontario Green Party with a surplus of $ 121,221.54. Coming in 3rd with a surplus was the Family Coalition Party at $ 71,403.47.

Leading the deficit train was the NDP with a whopping $ 2,985,059.00, and closing off the 5 major parties was the PC Party with a deficit of $ 898,754.96.

Now I know some will say that the Liberals should be in a good financial position as they are the party in power and I agree with that statement, and for that matter they should be in a even better financial position. I find that the Green Party who don't have any elected members at Queens Park to be in excellent financial shape as by looking at their financial statements they don't have any debt and are sitting with a good surplus. I decided to add the Family Coalition Party to the mix because in 2007 they did run a slate of candidates across Ontario, and they are also operating at a surplus, but I'm sure they don't have a paid office staff like the Liberals and Greens.

Over to the deficit side, I think that the NDP is in very poor shape, and I know that some will comment that they had a leadership race, along with the PC party back in 2009 so that's why they are in deficit. The NDP does not have a chance of forming the next government, and I suspect they might even lose seats come October and if they do they will be reduced to non-party status at Queens Park which would result in funding cuts that all parties receive if they have more than 10 elected members.

The PC's are the one's to watch as they will have to take on more debt going into an election if they want to defeat the Liberals and form the next government. When John Tory was leader he was able to wipe out their debt and actually put them into surplus before the last election. Tim Hudak does not have what John Tory has as far as raising money. So if the PC's end off 2010 with a deficit, I think it will be hard for them to borrow the money needed to run an effective campaign, and it will also be hard for them to get money from people as the local candidates will be going after the same money, and people tend to give more money to their local candidates then to the central party.

Until next time!