‘A dangerous precedent’ CKs mayor says removing EA will have ‘devastating impact’
Pinsonneault spends $126K on winning MPP race
November 17, 2024
Heather Wright/The Independent
Steve Pinsonneault spent over $126,000 in his winning bid to become the MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
Those figures come from Elections Ontario, which recently posted the campaign finance statements for both the Lambton-Kent-Middlesex and Milton by-elections held May 2. Pinsonneault won the election with 15,656 votes. His closest competitor, Cathy Burghart Jesson of the Liberal Party, garnered 6,289 votes while the NDP’s Kathryn Shalier brought in 2,978 votes that night.
Statements provided by the Pinsonneault campaign show $126,555.83 in total expenses in the month-long campaign.
Advertising was by far the campaigns largest expense at $79,608.13. The Queen’s Park Observer reports that included $21,000 to pay people to knock on doors in the massive riding, including hiring a third-party company to canvass for the candidate.
The Queen’s Park Observer says receipts show the campaign hired Creative Currency to set advertising strategy which included live calling, digital billboards and radio ads.
Pinsonneault tallied $18,212.73 in campaign contributions including his own $3,375 donation and another $500 from his partner.
The financial records also show the now-MPP spent $8,284.26 in travel during the campaign and $2,557 for the victory party.
The PCs posted a $59,820.39 surplus from the campaign.
Burghart-Jesson meantime spent $88,972.67 during the campaign sprint and posted a surplus of $37,261.04 in her return.
Burghart-Jesson spent $31,531.97 in advertising, the bulk of which went to a radio campaign at $12,000.
The Liberals also spent $14,450 in salaries and received $19,065 in campaign contributions.
The NDP’s $5,800 campaign ended in the red with a deficit of $4,979.18.
The New Blue Party spent $25,200.35 in an effort to elect Keith Benn.
The party had $16,355.62, the majority of which came from Benn and Bob and Liz Maniuk, who were active in his campaign.
The returns from the Green Party, which came a distant fifth, shows no expenses or donations in the Lambton-Kent-Middlesex race.
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