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Second, it’s important to remember that 2015 was, of course, an election year, which can have a significant impact on how much money flows into the coffers of the local association in advance of the dropping of the writ — as well as how much ends up flowing right back into the campaign of the candidate chosen to carry the party’s banner onto the hustings.

Finally — and this is not so much a caveat as a heads up to regular readers of the fine print of local political financing numbers: Riding associations are now expected to provide more detailed information on unpaid claims, as well as new and outstanding loans.

Expenses related to voter contact services — which includes both live and robocalls — are now provided as stand-alone categories for money spent outside and within an election period, which is, in theory a welcome change.

In practice, however, there seems to have been some confusion in exactly how those expenditures should be listed, which has led to some discrepancies in the numbers. I’ve contacted several of the riding associations involved, and will provide a full update as soon as I can be sure I’m reporting the numbers accurately.

With that out of the way, the answers to those questions posed up top: With contributions totalling: $298,328.37, rookie Liberal MP Andrew Leslie and his Orléans riding association currently hold the bragging rights for the biggest haul yet to be reported, beating out the Brampton North Conservative Association by just over $50,000, which was created during the most recent redistribution, and was last associated with defeated incumbent MP Parm Gill. The third spot goes to former Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander’s home base in Ajax, which took in $247,865 in donations last year.