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When then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper made his way to Rideau Hall to kick off the longest election campaign in modern Canadian political history, conventional wisdom had it that the Conservative Party had the most to gain.

The extended timeline would, after all, automatically boost the spending cap – which is calculated based on the number of days spent on the hustings – to nearly $55 million, or more than double the total allowed in 2011 or 2008.

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As the party with the most comfortably over-stuffed coffers, the Conservatives were widely believed to be the only ones with the necessary financial resources to take advantage of the super-sized expense limit.

But as it turned out, not even they were willing to break the bank on the marathon-length race that ultimately saw them go down to defeat to the Liberals.

According to the paperwork filed with Elections Canada last month, the Conservative Party spent $41,871,574 over the course of the 76 day campaign, which works out to just more than three-quarters of the $54,936,320.15 limit.