Both Manitoba’s opposition parties are facing new challenges as summer draws to a close — sizable deficits from the spring election campaign, a slow summer of fundraising and potentially costly leadership races on the horizon.

The New Democrats, who lost power in the April election after 16 years in office, have extended their summer fundraising effort, which has fallen short of the target. Post-election filings show donations to the NDP’s central campaign dropped 27% from the previous election which has left the party with about $200,000 in debt.

And unlike previous years, the party cannot rely on $190,000 from an annual per-vote subsidy the new Progressive Conservative government is axing.

“It has been a slow year in the central campaign, and it is a little bit slow now, but we’re hoping it is going to pick up,” said Rosann Wowchuk, a former cabinet minister and current member of the NDP executive.

One of the big fundraising events for the NDP each year is the leader’s dinner, held every fall. With former leader Greg Selinger’s resignation following the party’s election loss, and new interim leader Flor Marcelino an inexperienced public speaker, the party is considering looking for a guest speaker for the event, which has still not been finalized.

“Those are the details we have to work out — who will be our speaker, what kind of event will be planned,” Wowchuk said Tuesday.

The Liberals appear to be in an even tougher spot. They expect to have $140,000 in campaign debt once all the numbers are in and — with just three of the 57 legislature seats — have few staff and little funding to start with.

The Liberals used to collect $63,000 annually from the public subsidy that is being scrapped and are leaderless as they try to raise funds. Former leader Rana Bokhari officially resigned in August after keeping a low profile for the summer, and an interim leader will not be named until mid-October at the earliest.

A fundraising effort called the Builder’s Club has not performed well and is being revamped. And no fall fundraisers are planned as of yet, although Liberal president Peter Koroma said the party’s three legislature members may be featured at fundraising events.

Both parties will have to pay for leadership conventions next year, adding tens of thousands of dollars to each party’s costs.

The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, appear flush with cash. Even before forming government, the Tories were doubling the NDP in annual fundraising. The Tories had not needed — and had refused to accept — their share of the per-vote subsidy.

The opposition parties are optimistic fundraising will pick up as summer ends and party members return from vacations.

“We’re going to have to work at it, to get back to where we want to be in order to continue the activities we want to do,” Wowchuk said.