Close X
Friday, November 8, 2024
ADVT 
National

Campaign fundraising error less than $10K: Greens

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 01 Oct, 2020 09:56 PM
  • Campaign fundraising error less than $10K: Greens

The Green Party of Canada says the amount of money accidentally deposited with the party rather than Glen Murray's leadership campaign adds up to less than $10,000.

Murray says he is not yet convinced the damage stops there but credits the party with doing what it can to fix the problem.

He says the damage to his campaign has been done, preventing his team from doing some planned work because it didn't think it had the money.

The party says in a statement today it has forwarded $9,630 from 35 donors to Murray's campaign, and added under 10 people to the membership list whose memberships weren't properly approved.

The party says the donations were "incorrectly processed" but the situation has now been rectified.

Murray says media coverage of the problem has led to many phone calls from supporters who say they are concerned their donation didn't go through, or didn't get a ballot to vote in the leadership race.

He says his campaign team is focused on getting their vote out right now. Digital voting started last weekend and runs through Saturday, when the winner will be announced at an event in Ottawa.

Murray's campaign team will meet Sunday to figure out what else has to be done.

"I'm not sure at this point we'll ever get a final number," he said Thursday in an interview with The Canadian Press.

Murray said the party reported publicly on fundraising efforts by the candidates but since his numbers were incorrect, it "misrepresented" the strength of his campaign.

According to the most recently released public figures, Murray had raised $62,550 as of Aug. 31, from 353 donors.

That left him in fourth place for money raised and in sixth place for the number of donors, out of the eight candidates in the race.

Toronto activist and lawyer Annamie Paul led both counts, with $186,326 raised from 1,622 donors.

If the problem was limited to $9,630 and 35 donors, neither of Murray's placements on those lists would have changed.

Murray said he is disappointed this happened, and knows it could affect the outcome of the race but he said "the party is really going out of its way" to try to fix it.

This is the first Green leadership contest in 14 years. Former leader Elizabeth May stepped down almost a year ago, but stayed on as an MP and the parliamentary leader in the House of Commons.

None of the eight contestants running to succeed her are currently MPs. Paul is running in the current byelection in Toronto Centre, where she was also a candidate in the 2019 election.

MORE National ARTICLES

Hiring plans muted due to COVID-19: BoC

Hiring plans muted due to COVID-19: BoC
Companies that have laid off workers are telling the Bank of Canada they plan to refill some positions over the next year, but many hiring plans remain muted over COVID-19-related uncertainty.

Hiring plans muted due to COVID-19: BoC

Tories, NDP lay out demands ahead of snapshot

Tories, NDP lay out demands ahead of snapshot
Opposition parties have laid out their demands for the federal Liberal government as Ottawa prepares to update Canadians on the country's finances after four months of COVID-19 — and where it expects the economy to head for the rest of the year.

Tories, NDP lay out demands ahead of snapshot

Trudeau won't attend summit with U.S., Mexico

Trudeau won't attend summit with U.S., Mexico
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is taking a pass on a meeting this week with U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Trudeau won't attend summit with U.S., Mexico

Lawsuit alleges illegal prison strip searches

Lawsuit alleges illegal prison strip searches
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges authorities illegally strip searched Canadian federal prison inmates hundreds of thousands of times over almost three decades.

Lawsuit alleges illegal prison strip searches

Lac-Megantic marks 7th anniversary of rail disaster

Lac-Megantic marks 7th anniversary of rail disaster
Lac-Megantic will today mark the seventh anniversary of a tragic rail disaster by inaugurating a long-planned memorial space.

Lac-Megantic marks 7th anniversary of rail disaster

Two motorcyclists die in separate B.C. crashes

Two motorcyclists die in separate B.C. crashes
Separate crashes less than 48 hours apart have killed two motorcyclists and injured five other people on Highway 99 near Pemberton, B.C.

Two motorcyclists die in separate B.C. crashes