Five leadership contestants are in the race to replace former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh: Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, labour leader Rob Ashton, activist and documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis, social worker and Campbell River Coun. Tanille Johnston and organic farmer Tony McQuail.

Sanjay Jeram, a political science lecturer at Simon Fraser University, said Ashton, McPherson and Lewis have emerged as the race’s three front-runners.

Lewis has been able to fundraise more than twice as much money as the next candidate, with nearly three times as many people contributing to his campaign.

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[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Elections Canada interim campaign returns show Lewis has taken the lead in fundraising, having brought in $1.2 million from more than 10,400 contributors. Elections Canada data shows MacPherson has raised $560,000 from more than 3,800 contributors, while labour leader Rob Ashton has raised nearly $360,000 in contributions from more than 2,000 supporters. McQuail has raised more than $112,000 from over 800 contributors. Elections Canada has yet to publish Johnston’s fundraising numbers.

Lewis' average donation comes to 115$ per donor

McPherson's comes to 147$ per donor

Ashton's is 180$ per donor

Mcquail's is 140$ per donor

So in fact the person who has raised the most, has done it for as smaller average donation per donor. That tells you something about his appeal to the electors.

It's not about more money, it's about more commitment from more people.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

You almost had me there until you said "it's not about more money".

[–] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

I don't understand where I lost you. What I meant is: what's important here is not the amount of money. If the guy was connected to billionaires, he could have raised all that money from like 3 people. The impressive thing about the Lewis campaign is that because of the lower average donation, the overall amount is an indication of a much broader appeal. So it's not the amount that's impressive, it's the broad appeal of the candidate to the NDP member base. This is compounded by the higher average donation of his opponents, which means that they appeal to fewer, more well-off donors, and still didn't manage to out-fundraise him.