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OTTAWA — Money can’t buy you votes.

Or so it would seem, according to campaign financial reports filed with Elections Canada by the men and women who were seeking a House of Commons seat in last fall’s federal election.

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More often than not, the biggest spenders did not win on Oct. 19, an analysis by The Canadian Press indicates.

And while spending big bucks didn’t necessarily guarantee victory, not spending enough to at least stay competitive with rival candidates was an almost certain path to defeat, the analysis shows.

If parties have money to spend, they’ll concentrate it in winnable ridings, not ridings where they’re going to have a runaway victory and not ridings where they’re going to lose

Of the top 50 spenders, about three-fifths of them — 31 candidates in all — ran unsuccessfully. Of those, six lost to another candidate in the top 50.

For the top 100 spenders, the failure rate was a bit less dramatic, with 47 failing in their election bids, and 12 of those losing to a competitor who also cracked the top 100.

The analysis is based on expenses reported by candidates that counted as part of their legal spending limits. It did not include personal and other expenses — like gas and mileage for a personal vehicle, child care or thank-you receptions for volunteers — which must be reported to Elections Canada but don’t count against the spending cap.