XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
     ¯\_(ツ)_/¯   
      
   What can we say?  Great party . . . great leader . . .  people are   
   putting their money where their hearts are.   
   ____________________________   
      
      
   NDP debt-free thanks to surge in online donations   
   CBC News Posted: Jan 14, 2014   
      
      
     Parties battle it out in fourth-quarter fundraising	   
      
      
   The NDP led by Tom Mulcair has managed to pay off its debt from the last   
   election, allowing the party to start building a war chest toward the   
   next campaign, expected by October 2015. (   
      
      
   The NDP is assured of starting the next election campaign with money in   
   the bank.   
      
   Last week, the Official Opposition paid off its debt from the 2011   
   election, the last of some $6.75 million that had been borrowed to   
   finance the campaign.   
      
   With the next election not expected until October 2015, it's the   
   earliest the NDP has found itself free of debt before a campaign.   
      
   NDP national director Nathan Rotman, said it is mostly due to the   
   party's success in ramping up its online donation program, with online   
   contributions more than doubling in the past year.   
      
   “Now our focus will be to continue expand our fundraising as public   
   financing whittles down more and more each year. And start to put away a   
   nest egg to run a really strong campaign in 2015,” Rotman said.   
      
   A taxpayer subsidy to political parties based on their share of the   
   popular vote will be fully phased out by next year.   
      
   Even with some money saved, the party still expects to have to go back   
   to the bank for a loan for the next campaign.   
      
   But Rotman said there has been steady growth in terms of the number of   
   donors and contribution amounts.   
      
   “Our donations, which have traditionally been much smaller, are starting   
   to rise in line with the other parties," Rotman said.   
      
   The number of party donors rose to 43,000 in 2012 from 22,800 in 2010.   
   Numbers for last year are not yet available.   
      
   Starting the year in the black may be a milestone for the NDP, but it’s   
   still small potatoes compared to the powerful Conservative fundraising   
   machine.   
      
   That party’s chief fundraiser, Senator Irving Gerstein, confirmed at the   
   Conservative convention in the fall that his party has no debt and more   
   than $14 million in the bank.   
      
   The Liberals did not comment on the party's debt, but pointed to strong   
   fundraising in December that collected more than $2.1 million from more   
   than 32,000 donors.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)