Élections Québec has just released the authorized political entities’ financial reports for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2018.
Authorized political entities include provincial political parties, party authorities, Members of the National Assembly, and authorized independent candidates.
You can now view the financial reports or use our contributor search engine.
Total revenue
- For 2018, a general election year, the total revenue of the provincial political entities was $35,041,335.
- Public funding, which includes allowances to political parties and matching sums, accounted for 77.7% of the total.
- Independent funding, which includes mostly contributions by electors, membership fees, and income from political activities, accounted for the remaining 22.3%.
Contributions
- The total amount of contributions by electors to political entities was $4,372,901.
- A total of 38,604 electors made 46,851 contributions.
- Their average contribution was $113.
The number of contributors was 1.1% higher than in 2014, the previous general election year. The amount of contributions increased by 20.9% compared to 2014.
The Parti Québécois received the highest amount of contributions, with $1,309,395. It is followed by the Coalition Avenir Québec, the Québec Liberal Party, and Québec Solidaire. The Parti Québécois also had the largest number of contributors, with 13,658. The contributors to the Coalition Avenir Québec had the highest average contribution at $141.
| Political party | Amount ($) | Number of contributors | Average contribution ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| PQ | 1,309,395 | 13,658 | 96 |
| CAQ | 1,056,831 | 7,520 |
141 |
| QLP | 1,041,822 | 8,321 | 125 |
| QS | 745,515 | 7,640 | 98 |
| Other entities (33*) | 219,338 | 2,147 | 102 |
| *Including 13 authorized independent candidates. | |||
Expenses
- Political entities spent $39,866,943 in 2018.
- The four parties represented in the National Assembly spent 97.8% of that amount.
- Election expenses accounted for 64.7% all parties’ spending.
Our role in political funding
Under the Elections Act, we are entrusted with the role of comptroller and educator. As comptroller, we ensure the application and enforcement of the provincial rules on political funding and control of election expenses. Among other things, this entails:
- Granting authorization to political entities;
- Verifying that authorized political entities comply with the provisions of the Act</em>;
- Receiving, reviewing, and auditing, as the case may be, financial and election expense reports;
- Receiving contributions from electors, verifying their compliance, and forwarding them to the authorized political entity concerned; and
- Investigating the legality of the expenses incurred by the authorized political entities as well as that of the contributions and election expenses.
