[UPDATE: Since this post was first written, I discovered that I made a couple of transposition errors in the category data entries for the Liberal Party. They've been corrected now as follows: Leader's Tour should have read 2,481,430, rather than 828,447; Polls should have read 828,447 rather than 650,007; National Office should have read 650,007 rather than 439,143; Salaries should have read 1,181,479 rather than 351,104; and Professional Services should have read 351,104 rather than 2,481,430. Boy do I feel dumb. At least the totals and the main category of Broadcast Advertising were correct.]

The Liberal Party's 2008 Election Campaign Return confirms that the party was massively outspent by the Conservatives in last fall's general election campaign, particularly in the categories of Broadcast Advertising, Leader's Tour, and Other expenses, although they did pay more for Polling and Professional Services Other Advertising.

According to the party's campaign return, which has just been posted on the Elections Canada website, Liberals spent just 72.6% of their national spending limit, confirming the mid-campaign reporting by John Ivison, who wrote in last September 27th's National Post that party officials had decided to strongly curtail national spending, even though they had planned to spend the limit as late as six weeks before.

The only outstanding major party return is that of the NDP, which had decided to spend the national limit for the first time ever. [UPDATE: A party spokesperson told La Presse Canadienne tonight that they were submitted on Thursday, but had not as yet been posted on the Elections Canada website.] All registered party election campaign returns are due on Tuesday April 14.

Note that the other parties return comparisons are also reproduced from an earlier post below.

National Campaign Expenditures by Party and Category, 2008 General Election (corrected)

CATEGORY	Lib ($)	NDP ($)	Grn ($)	BQ ($)	Cons ($)
Ads - Rad/TV	5,827,650		1,579,104	2,377,418	10,266,344
Ads - Oth	2,213,049		248,091	402,646	327,685
Leader's tour	2,481,430		83,960	578,906	2,474,333
Polls	828,447		88,247	168,136	274,240
Salaries	1,181,479		115,404	501,745	866,261
Prof Services	351,104		409,405	79,188	1,785,037
Travel	439,143		74,030	371,349	57,820
Natl Office	650,007		194,488	20,709	449,423
Other Off	559,544		3,070	379,507	2,917,437
TOTAL (%)	14,531,853 (72.6%)		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

Liberal spending on both Broadcast Advertising and Polling in 2008 represents a substantial decline from 2006, although National Office Other Advertising costs increased. Salaries declined in favour of Professional Services, a similar trend to that already noted for the Conservatives.

National Campaign Expenditures by Election and Category, Liberal Party (corrected)

CATEGORY	1997 GE($)	2000 GE($)	2004 GE($)	2006 GE($)	2008 GE($)
Broadcasting	970699	662450
Television	2838083	3508420
Ads - Rad/TV			7578406	8126305	5827650
Ads - Oth	2959048	3522138	2589017	1332572	2213049
Leader's tour	1697242	2283346	2836782	3387399	2481430
Polls			641515	1057992	828447
Salaries	573160	799542	1076300	1709670	1181479
Prof Services	143974	197021	252967	138261	351104
Travel	453586	429913	468934	364856	439143
Natl Office	547897	382620	313532	645978	650007
Rent, etc	78446	57227
Admin	698278	426455
Fund-raising	284597	253466
Misc	2131	2576
Other Off			847075	684097	559544

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

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

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	179,655	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

The Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party has also filed a return showing total spending of $7,341.65 out of a limit of $272,020.62 based on the 4 Ontario ridings in which they ran candidates. And the Communist Party's return reports total spending of $11,389.27 out of a limit of $1,599,036.87 based on the 24 ridings where they fielded candidates.

Labels: 40th General Election, Election Expenses, Liberals