Carney leads in fundraising as Freeland says numbers don't 'tell the whole story'

Liberal leadership contender Mark Carney is pulling in more money from more contributors than any of his competitors in the race to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and it's not even close, according to Elections Canada filings released Tuesday.

Carney hauled in an impressive $1.9 million in donations from 11,260 contributors, a figure that easily dwarfs the $226,661 former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland collected from 332 donors in the first leg of this Liberal leadership race.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Carney said the campaign has "built a strong and growing grassroots fundraising effort, reflecting the broad-based enthusiasm and momentum we've seen for Mark's plan to build a strong economy."

The spokesperson said 68 per cent of the money brought in was from contributions under $100.

While Carney appears to have a comfortable fundraising edge, a spokesperson for Freeland told CBC News the data in the Elections Canada report is not complete and they are "actively working to correct the numbers."

In a later statement, a spokesperson for Freeland said: "Today's Elections Canada data doesn't tell the whole story. Campaigns could either receive donations directly or let the Liberal Party hold on to them."

In election parlance, these donations are known as "directed contributions," which are contributions first made to the Liberal Party and then transferred to a leadership contestant.

A candidate may choose to go this route to allow the party to handle the logistics — and incur some of the associated fees — of collecting the money.

The spokesperson said the Freeland campaign has "raised nearly $600,000" from a total of "over 2,000" donors, when the directed contributions are included.

Carney is well ahead in the race to lock up caucus support with 83 MPs backing his candidacy so far, according to a CBC News tally of endorsements. Freeland has 26 MPs pulling for her.

Today's financial returns combined with his overwhelming caucus support suggests Carney, the former Bank of Canada governor, is the front-runner in this race to pick the next prime minister.

The Elections Canada data covers all donations from the launch of this leadership campaign in early January to about Feb. 9 — although the Freeland data appears to be incomplete with donations only reported up until Jan. 29.

Under Elections Canada rules, candidates must report all of their donations four weeks out from the date set by the party to pick its next leader, which is March 9. The next tranche of financial data will be revealed just days before the leadership convention.

Elections Canada data shows former government House leader Karina Gould raising $236,075 from 1,375 contributors, more than what it is reporting Freeland has pulled in so far.