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Parties get a 50 per cent rebate on national campaign expenses such as television ads, leaders’ tours and central party staff, as long as they receive more than two per cent of votes cast nationally. Local campaigns receive 60 per cent of their expenses in rebates, as long as they finish with more than 10 per cent of the votes in their ridings. The payments depend on parties filing their local and national expense reports. The Conservatives are the only party to file their national campaign return so far, and spent $35.4 million, half of which will be refunded to them.听

The last federal election saw smaller parties’ vote share diminished

The 2025 election saw voters coalesce around the Liberals and the Conservatives, with those two parties garnering 85 per cent of the vote, compared to just 66 per cent of the vote in the 2021 campaign.

That came at the expense of smaller parties, with the New Democratic Party dropping from 17.8 per cent of the vote in the 2021 election to just 6.3 per cent in 2025. The People鈥檚 Party of Canada dropped from 4.9 per cent to less than one per cent, and the Greens鈥� support slid from 2.3 per cent to 1.2.

The plummet in overall vote share translated to a failure at a riding-by-riding level to routinely receive 10 per cent of the vote, hamstringing each party’s ability to tap into the election rebate program, the Star’s review found. The Bloc Qu茅b茅cois, which saw its vote share decline slightly, still garnered enough support to receive significant campaign rebates for both the national and local campaigns.听

Greens and PPC won’t receive rebates in the next campaign

The PPC received just over $700,000 in rebates for its national expenses in the 2021 campaign because of its relatively strong results, and the Greens received over $600,000, but neither will receive rebates after this election because they finished with less than two per cent support nationally.听

PPC executive director Nathan McMillan acknowledged that his party is in a difficult financial situation.

鈥淲e’re going to have to tighten things up a little bit and really prioritize where our expenses are to make sure we’re getting the biggest bang for our buck,鈥� he said.

McMillan said the campaign rebates in 2021 helped the party considerably.

鈥淐ertainly, that allowed us to have more staff. It allowed us to increase our visibility, both with branding and marketing,鈥� he said. 鈥淎ll the basic things that any political party organization needs to do.鈥�

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said she felt her party lost momentum when it was excluded from the leaders’ debates.听

“That was the first hint that we were probably not going to make our campaign targets,” she said.听

May said her party has been transparent with its members about the Greens’ financial situation. She said the party finished the campaign with $1 million in debt, but that the amount has now been reduced to $400,000.听

“We’re not despairing. We are disciplined. We have had extremely strong fundraising post-election, which is unusual,” she said.

The Liberals received $13.5 million in national refunds from the 2021 campaign, while the Conservatives received just over $14 million. With both parties running fully funded campaigns this spring, they will likely receive even more in refunds from the 2025 campaign. The New听Democrats will still get a national campaign refund, which in 2021 put $12 million into party coffers, but will receive considerably less at the riding level.

New Democrats will see their riding rebates reduced

In 2021, the NDP received campaign rebates for 237 ridings where they finished about 10 per cent, amounting to $3.7 million. In this year’s campaign, it cleared that threshold in only 46 ridings, significantly reducing any possible rebates.听

David Hare, who was the NDP’s director of operations for the 2015 campaign, said the party almost certainly budgeted for more riding rebates, but will be able to continue on with the national rebate.听

“There’s still very much a path forward from a financial standpoint,” he said, citing the upcoming race to replace former leader Jagmeet Singh as a much more pressing concern. “It’s not a question of long-term viability of the party. It’s a question of long-term vision of the party,” he said.听

While the NDP is getting a reduced number of riding rebates, the PPC will go from receiving $250,000 for 22 local campaigns in 2021 to receiving nothing this time. The Greens, who finished with more than 10 per cent of votes in six ridings in the last campaign, did so in only three this time out.听

Hare said the financial challenges will have an impact.听

“Money is a critical resource for campaigns. It affects your ability to get your message out. It affects your ability to support operations on the ground,” he said.听

David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, agrees that the New Democrats’ upcoming leadership race will matter considerably for their ability to bounce back, but believes it is far too early to write the party’s obituary.

However, Coletto said the PPC and the Greens will struggle for relevance and attention, and being behind financially will hurt them. He said in today’s politics, paid advertising can be the only way to reach an audience.听

“In a world where the audience that these parties are trying to engage with is more fragmented than it’s ever been, the ability to reach people organically through earned media is harder,” he said.听

The Conservatives have been the biggest fundraisers by far, especially since Pierre Poilievre became leader, and Coletto said they have used that advantage to campaign all the time and reach new voters.听

“You need money to organize. You need money to advertise and the Conservatives have proven what you can do if you have the resources to speak directly to people.”