ABOVE THE FOLD
Hot off the presses! — WHO GOT PAID: LIBERAL EDITION — Yesterday, I cracked open the PCs’ election spending. Today, it’s the Liberals’ turn. Their campaign receipts just landed at Elections Ontario and I’ve got the skinny on the expense list, including what appears to be a $4,000-birthday bash for BONNIE CROMBIE. It’s receipt season, so buckle up — more filings are still to come.
Meanwhile, the booze world is buzzing over DOUG FORD’s whisky dump, and that much-whispered Liberal campaign debrief is finally en route.
Before we dive into the Liberals’ spending spree, some chatter from Queen’s Park and the Hill about yesterday’s scoop: the PCs cut a nearly $1-million cheque to Prime Contact — the same shop that does voter contact and IDs for the federal Liberals.
Tory campaign vets were floored: “Just to clarify, we trusted a Liberal firm with our election data? When I saw that I was like, who the hell is that?” Another added: “What surprised me is how much money the PCs gave Prime Contact…why not just give the extra work to ElectRight [or another trusted vendor]? Instead, a Liberal firm got hundreds of thousands.” One strategist quipped that it likely made life even harder for the Grits, who were already scrambling after the snap election call — only to find one of the biggest ID firms “suddenly working against them.”
For inside baseball fans: I got my hands on the PCs’ list of preferred vendors, and it includes Campaign Research, ElectRight and Responsive Marketing Group — but not Prime Contact.
First in Observer — RECEIPTS REVEALED — From birthday cake to ballot recounts, here’s what stood out in the Liberals’ election returns…