Campaign Cash

Election

2018 Municipal Election (25 Wards)

15,206 contributions totalling $9,377,183 from 12,388 contributors to 320 campaigns in the 2018 Municipal Election (25 Wards).

$9,377,183Total raised
15,206Contributions
12,388Contributors
320Campaigns
$300Median gift
$22,704Largest
Source discrepancy on record. Grimes, Mark appears in the Elections Financial Disclosure filing with 104 contributions, and in the City's Open Data release with none at all — $108,700 of contributions. This archive uses the Elections Financial Disclosure filing, the more complete of the two.

By office

Councillor
$5,319,600 · 10,019
Mayor
$3,330,897 · 4,105
Toronto District School Board
$575,107 · 887
Toronto Catholic District School Board
$86,681 · 96
Third Party Advertiser
$58,918 · 87
Conseil scolaire Viamonde
$5,980 · 12

Where the money came from

Individual100%$9,373,58315,203 gifts
Corporation<0.1%$1,2001 gift
Trade Union<0.1%$2,4002 gifts
When corporate and union money was allowed

Corporate and union contributions were legal in the 2006 Toronto election and flowed to every office. They were barred from city council and mayoral campaigns from the 2010 election onward.

That ban did not cover school board trustee campaigns, which ran under provincial rules and kept accepting corporate and union money legally through 2014 — 148 such contributions to Toronto District School Board trustees in 2010 and 166 in 2014. A province-wide ban closed that gap for the 2018 election.

Third party advertisers, a category that first existed in 2018, were not covered by either ban and could still accept corporate and union contributions.

A small residue of corporate contributions to council campaigns survives after the ban — 23 in 2010 and 12 in 2014 — which the City publishes as filed and does not verify.

By this election corporate and union money was barred from candidate campaigns, but third party advertisers could still accept it.

Largest campaigns

Ranked by money raised. Showing the top 20 of 320. Per vote divides contributions by votes received, not campaign spending. A candidate may seek only one office at a time, so anyone listed twice ran two separate campaigns and left the first before the ballot was set — money raised for the abandoned campaign could not follow them.

CandidateOfficeWardRaisedVotesPer voteContributors
Tory, John wonMayor$2,670,385.00479,659$5.572,121
Keesmaat, JenniferMayor$479,049.50178,193$2.691,039
Karygiannis, Jim wonCouncillor22$317,849.4412,593$25.24440
Kelly, NormCouncillor22$122,950.009,944$12.36216
Thompson, Michael wonCouncillor21$116,502.5016,542$7.04139
Minnan-Wong, Denzil wonCouncillor16$109,534.0011,128$9.84145
Grimes, Mark wonCouncillor3$108,700.0016,527$6.58104
Cho, SonnyCouncillor18$101,752.003,130$32.51287
Matlow, Josh wonCouncillor12$97,660.5420,371$4.79217
Ford, Michael wonCouncillor1$94,830.0010,648$8.91104
Perruzza, Anthony wonCouncillor7$93,932.508,336$11.27128
Bailão, Ana wonCouncillor9$93,868.0026,219$3.58149
Olawoye, LekanCouncillor5$93,656.373,889$24.08167
Lai, Cynthia wonCouncillor23$89,700.005,589$16.05249
Burnside, JonCouncillor15$88,803.5014,440$6.15175
Smitherman, GeorgeCouncillor13$88,088.254,734$18.61145
Nunziata, Frances wonCouncillor5$84,784.768,425$10.06121
Mihevc, JoeCouncillor12$82,208.0016,634$4.94169
Goldy, FaithMayor$82,050.8325,667$3.20186
Crawford, Gary wonCouncillor20$77,650.0010,505$7.39106

By ward

Money raised by council candidates in each ward. This election used 25 wards. School board trustees are excluded: their wards carry different numbers over different boundaries, so adding them to a council ward would place money in the wrong geography.

Ward 16 Don Valley East: $193,054 from 292 contributions Ward 3 Etobicoke-Lakeshore: $185,053 from 242 contributions Ward 15 Don Valley West: $163,591 from 332 contributions Ward 23 Scarborough North: $188,015 from 494 contributions Ward 11 University-Rosedale: $104,830 from 243 contributions Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York: $198,679 from 430 contributions Ward 9 Davenport: $117,918 from 181 contributions Ward 5 York South-Weston: $283,068 from 544 contributions Ward 17 Don Valley North: $212,524 from 516 contributions Ward 8 Eglinton-Lawrence: $278,520 from 482 contributions Ward 2 Etobicoke Centre: $148,134 from 236 contributions Ward 1 Etobicoke North: $204,487 from 270 contributions Ward 4 Parkdale-High Park: $148,083 from 363 contributions Ward 12 Toronto-St. Paul's: $190,320 from 415 contributions Ward 22 Scarborough-Agincourt: $506,674 from 830 contributions Ward 21 Scarborough Centre: $175,710 from 237 contributions Ward 24 Scarborough-Guildwood: $63,705 from 88 contributions Ward 25 Scarborough-Rouge Park: $157,919 from 378 contributions Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest: $242,278 from 352 contributions Ward 19 Beaches-East York: $259,357 from 606 contributions Ward 18 Willowdale: $422,607 from 887 contributions Ward 6 York Centre: $161,316 from 250 contributions Ward 7 Humber River-Black Creek: $252,759 from 369 contributions Ward 14 Toronto-Danforth: $173,568 from 447 contributions Ward 13 Toronto Centre: $287,431 from 535 contributions 16315231110951782141222212425201918671413
Raised by council candidates$63,705–$157,919$157,919–$185,053$185,053–$204,487$204,487–$278,520$278,520–$506,674
The 25-ward model, which this election used. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Toronto.

Ranked wards

$204,487 · 270
$148,134 · 236
$185,053 · 242
$148,083 · 363
$283,068 · 544
$161,316 · 250
$252,759 · 369
$278,520 · 482
$117,918 · 181
$198,679 · 430
$104,830 · 243
$190,320 · 415
$287,431 · 535
$173,568 · 447
$163,591 · 332
$193,054 · 292
$212,524 · 516
$422,607 · 887
$259,357 · 606
$242,278 · 352
$175,710 · 237
$506,674 · 830
$188,015 · 494
$63,705 · 88
$157,919 · 378

Where the money came from

By forward sortation area — the first three characters of the postal code, the finest geography the City publishes for individual donors. Shading is by quantile, so each band holds a fifth of the areas with money.

M1B: $33,692M1C: $64,650M1E: $59,465M1G: $47,503M1H: $12,754M1J: $16,513M1K: $45,524M1L: $27,771M1M: $92,728M1N: $55,711M1P: $41,902M1R: $26,039M1S: $57,031M1T: $52,982M1V: $59,598M1W: $73,976M1X: $16,525M2H: $49,135M2J: $71,047M2K: $56,691M2L: $129,890M2M: $68,446M2N: $236,914M2P: $54,498M2R: $38,841M3A: $59,916M3B: $92,116M3C: $88,734M3H: $136,640M3J: $51,405M3K: $19,600M3L: $9,800M3M: $11,906M3N: $21,113M4A: $32,492M4B: $29,022M4C: $70,446M4E: $109,148M4G: $119,925M4H: $10,814M4J: $91,664M4K: $109,910M4L: $119,450M4M: $69,645M4N: $284,849M4P: $61,062M4R: $78,334M4S: $72,553M4T: $154,995M4V: $356,053M4W: $362,914M4X: $52,341M4Y: $68,458M5A: $90,033M5B: $32,244M5C: $35,604M5E: $41,600M5G: $6,000M5H: $91,002M5J: $95,552M5M: $143,491M5N: $136,605M5P: $295,392M5R: $333,247M5S: $82,556M5T: $49,073M5V: $172,981M6A: $31,455M6B: $63,591M6C: $104,489M6E: $46,794M6G: $124,066M6H: $85,909M6J: $94,078M6K: $60,320M6L: $48,314M6M: $38,920M6N: $24,486M6P: $82,116M6R: $74,394M6S: $88,810M8V: $80,104M8W: $23,694M8X: $87,435M8Y: $30,707M8Z: $35,768M9A: $160,530M9B: $50,079M9C: $23,162M9L: $20,450M9M: $14,100M9N: $44,859M9P: $59,920M9R: $23,159M9V: $57,152M9W: $37,690
Total contributed$150–$19,600$19,600–$44,859$44,859–$63,591$63,591–$92,728$92,728–$362,914none
96 of 96 Toronto postal areas have contributions on record. 14 further Toronto codes carrying $34,700 have no polygon to draw: Statistics Canada builds the file from the census, so codes with no residential population are absent — which is what downtown office towers like M5K and M5X are. Boundaries adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census cartographic boundary files.

Toronto and beyond

19% of the money in this election came from outside Toronto, which the map above does not cover.

Toronto$7,591,763.11 · 81.0%
Central Ontario (905)$1,640,085.70 · 17.5%
Southwestern Ontario$69,074.00 · 0.7%
Eastern Ontario$48,184.16 · 0.5%
Elsewhere in Canada$10,000.00 · 0.1%
Northern Ontario$9,925.60 · 0.1%
No postal code on file$8,150.00 · 0.1%

Largest contributors

ContributorPostal areaTotalGifts
Smith, DavidM1G$22,703.751
Campaign For Public Education (Inc)M5P$22,599.561
Rowlands, JoyceM4W$19,998.408
Budo, ChrisM4J$17,052.163
Mousavi, DavidM2N$16,881.436
Johnston, LauralynM4R$16,347.855
Kim, AlbertM2M$15,570.896
Lister, KenM2J$15,354.5737
Gregor, MatthewM1T$15,100.002
Larbie, GladysM3H$14,698.171
ksiazek, stephenM3C$13,930.863
Tonks, ChrisM6L$12,834.903

Source

Scraped from the City’s Elections Financial Disclosure system, which publishes a date for every contribution.

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