OTTAWA — The Conservative party has once again raised the most amount of money from donors across the country — but the Liberals are nipping at their heels, new financial records for the first quarter of 2014 show.

The Conservatives raised $4,554,292 from 31,765 donors between January 1 and March 31 according to numbers posted on Elections Canada's website Wednesday evening. The Liberals raised less money, $3,779,930, but had the most donors of any party at 34,945. The NDP was a distant third with $2,519,647 from 21,748 donors.

The Liberal party's communications manager Andrée-Lyne Hallé told HuffPost the quarterly results were great news for the Grits.

“Despite being the official opposition for almost 3 years now, the NDP has never had a quarter this big,” Hallé wrote in an email. “We still have a long way to go to catch the Conservatives but the playing field is definitely getting a little more level. We are showing that we are competitive in this matter and that Canadians are responding to Mr. Trudeau’s message of hope and hard work,” she said.

The Liberals had a good result but it was far cry from their last quarter in 2013 where the Grits raked in $4,685,999 from 44,228 donors. Since Trudeau was elected leader, the Liberals have received more contributions from different individuals at each financial quarter than the governing Conservatives.

The Tories, however, continue to raise the most money. During the last quarter in 2013, when the Grits and Tories were running aggressive fundraising campaigns, the Conservatives earned $5,369,659 from 36,795 contributors.

“Canadians trust the strong, stable leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper over the poor judgment of Justin Trudeau,” Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann explained.

NDP national director Anne McGrath said the party’s fundraising is going well.

"Our fundraising is higher than it has ever been and our numbers continue to grow,” she said in an emailed statement.

The NDP, however, had a much stronger fourth quarter in 2013. It raised more money, $3,697,243, from more donors, 27,051. But like the Liberal and Green parties, the NDP is doing better in this quarter this year compared to the same time period in 2013. The NDP raised almost $1 million more.

The Conservatives raised more money in the first three months of 2014 compared to 2013, but they had more donors last year.

This quarter, the Green Party raised $480,673 from 7,802 donors, while the Bloc Québécois earned $65,555 from 716 contributors.

Also on HuffPost