Gould calls on supporters to meet ‘aggressive’ fundraising deadline

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OTTAWA — Barely a month from the Liberal leadership selection, candidate Chrystia Freeland’s campaign is suggesting the entry fee from the party has been set too high and candidate Karina Gould has warned supporters she might not make it past the next deposit deadline.

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In an email to her supporters on Tuesday, Karina Gould warned that the party set an “aggressive fundraising deadline” and that she needs more help to meet the goal of raising $125,000 by Friday, 5 p.m., for her to stay in the race.

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“My campaign is powered by people, not deep pockets,” says the email, obtained by National Post. “But the deadline is fast approaching, and your support today will determine whether we get a real race as Liberals or whether we have a coronation.”

The Liberal party asked leadership candidates for a steep entry fee of $350,000 to be paid in several payments before Feb. 17, six weeks after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would be stepping down once his successor was chosen.

Freeland spokeswoman Katherine Cuplinskas suggested in a statement that the party’s entry fee should have been lower.

“Chrystia Freeland believes that a large field with a low barrier to entry is the best way to renew our party, have a diversity of viewpoints, and engage as many Liberals as possible as we head into the next federal election to defeat (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre,” she said.

Six candidates were able to submit a first deposit of $50,000 on Jan. 23. Liberal MP Jaime Battiste then dropped out of the race on Jan. 30, the deadline to submit a second $50,000 deposit. Battiste endorsed former central banker Mark Carney for leader.

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The remaining five candidates need to submit two additional deposits of $125,000 each — by Feb. 7 and Feb. 17 — if they wish to remain in the race to replace Trudeau.

On Wednesday, Freeland’s team was first to confirm it had already paid the first February deposit. Carney’s team said it would be submitting its deposit later that day. Others said they were still working on getting the funds.

“We are well on track to making the deposit before the limit date this Friday, and have made good progress already toward the final deposit amount,” said Justine McIntyre, who handles media relations for Frank Baylis, a businessman and one-term Liberal MP running for leader.

Gould, the former Liberal House leader and the youngest candidate in the race, has often said that she is leading a grassroots campaign and that most of her donations are smaller amounts. Last week, she said 85 per cent of her donations are $250 or less.

Gould’s campaign team would not say if her recent email blast to supporters helped her raise the required amount, but said Tuesday was their “best fundraising day yet.”

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“Donors are up, money is up. Support is growing. But the deadline is coming fast and it’s a lot of money for a grassroots campaign. Each dollar that comes into our campaign makes a difference and is appreciated,” said Emily Jackson, a spokeswoman for Gould.

Former Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla, who is also in the race to replace Trudeau, was not immediately available to comment on her fundraising efforts.

Liberal supporters are set to choose their next leader on March 9 in a short race. The party’s high entry fee was seen as a way to keep out long-shot or unserious candidates. But the timing of Trudeau’s announcement and the threat of U.S. tariffs resulted in key ministers with possible leadership ambitions declining to run.

That was the case for Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson. Most of them have since officially thrown their support behind Carney.

Carney is rumoured to have been preparing his leadership bid for months.

He managed to raise more than $125,000 within the first 24 hours of his campaign launch, according to a recent statement from his national campaign director Braeden Caley, who said that the fundraising pace “continued at great speed in the following days.”

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Rivals including Freeland and Gould, who held until recently key positions in the Liberal government, have presumably had less time to organize their leadership bids.

Freeland served as deputy prime minister and finance minister until she resigned on Dec. 16, hours before she was set to deliver her fall economic statement, and prompting a political crisis that ultimately led to Trudeau announcing he would step down.

Gould stepped down as House leader late January, after Trudeau had prorogued Parliament until March 24, and confirmed she would be seeking the Liberal leadership.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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