Fundraising in Federal Nomination Contests in Canada

Nomination contests are the processes by which candidates are selected to stand in a general election under a political party’s banner. In Canada, the rules governing these processes differ widely by party, and thus, the structure of individual nomination contests differs significantly between parties and ridings. In this article, we explore the implications of these institutional differences for fundraising outcomes. Drawing on theories of party gatekeeping (Albaugh, 2022), we use data from Elections Canada from 2004 to 2019 to explore how the structure of nomination contests influences the amount of money that contestants raise at the nomination stage. We find that the presence of multiple contestants, running in a party stronghold district, and longer nomination process all predict higher amounts fundraised by contestants. Our findings contribute to debates about candidate emergence by probing the role of money early in the election process.