Source Note: You can access and track the OLP leadership fundraising data yourself through Elections Ontario’s Political Parties and Leadership Contestants Real-Time Disclosure (RTD) of Contributions table.
Data Note: Elections Ontario excludes aggregated donations below $200, has a 15-day reporting delay from candidates, and a two-day posting delay to the website.
#1 Navdeep Bains:
Began collecting donations on May 25, 2026
$357,530 raised from 223 donations
58 maximum donations totalling $198,650
$1,603 average donation
# 2 Lee Fairclough:
Began collecting donations on May 8, 2026
$278,148 raised from 235 donations
37 maximum donations totalling $126,725
$1,183 average donation
#3 Eric Lombardi:
Began collecting donations on June 9, 2026
$144,983 raised from 120 donations
21 maximum donations totalling $71,925
$1,208 average donation
#4 Dylan Marando:
Began collecting donations on April 22, 2026
$139,219 raised from 151 donations
14 maximum donations totalling $47,950
$921 average donation
#5 Stephanie Bowman:
(No records provided to date)
Five candidates
The candidate registration deadline has now passed, and the candidate list is set. Initially it included six names but, after one candidate dropped out, we now have five. Stephanie Bowman has unsurprisingly yet to submit any fundraising records given she’s only been in the race for a week. Dyland Marando has also not submitted new numbers this week. In fairness, his team reported last week. We’re sharing our update a week earlier than usual to provide some more information to voters ahead of Monday’s debate.
A new fundraising leader?
Nav Bains remains the top fundraiser in terms of total dollars raised, max donors, and average donation. However, for the first time in the race, Lee Fairclough has surged ahead of Bains in total donations. Bains raised just under $12,000 since our last report, while Lombardi raised just over $8,000 over the same period. Fairclough, by comparison, raised just under $42,000 — a whopping sum given the limited number of days it’s been since the candidate deadline.
Staying on the ballot
One thing we’ve been tracking is how close Marando and Lombardi are to reaching the candidate fee with their fundraising. Marando is around $10,000 away while Lombardi is around $5,000 shy. Given they likely have some contributions that did not meet the $200 threshold to require reporting, both are likely close if not already at their $150,000 targets. Appearing on the debate stage on Monday will be a big opportunity for both candidates to raise their profile and generate new donations as they work towards the next scheduled payment to the party at the end of August.
A new fundraising force?
Bowman has yet to report but is expected to be a fundraising force given her background in finance. Prior to her launch, I had heard tales of a large number of financial pledges being made to her campaign that she would be able to collect after launching. But in my experience, pledges aren’t worth much until a cheque is written and has been deposited in the bank. Time will tell where she fits into the fundraising picture within this leadership race.
We’re aiming to provide biweekly updates on how the candidates are doing with fundraising. With the membership deadline still months away, fundraising will be one of the few metrics we can track to gauge how the race is going. Stay tuned!
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