OTTAWA—Federal Conservative party donations dropped by nearly 30 per cent between spring and summer this year, according to third-quarter figures released on Thursday by Elections Canada.

As well, for the first time since Prime Minister Stephen Harper assumed leadership of the party nearly a decade ago, Conservatives had fewer donors than the federal Liberals.

A total of 30,108 individuals gave money to the Liberals this summer, compared to 28,968 for the Conservatives. The New Democrats gathered funds from 21,788 people in total.

The drop in donations and donors threatens to put yet another cloud over the mood of Conservatives as they head into their Calgary convention this weekend after having been hit with news this week that the party paid Sen. Mike Duffy’s legal bills.

And the surge in Liberal fundraising strength — despite the party’s third-place status in the Commons — sets the stage for a new advertising war between the Conservatives and the Liberals.

Conservatives announced earlier this week that they were rolling out ads to attack the judgment of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau — particularly his stand on legalizing marijuana — while Liberals are gearing up to launch a TV ad campaign on Monday.

A “sneak peek” at the Liberals’ TV ad was available on YouTube on Thursday. In it, a grey-suited Trudeau stands against a grey background and talks about “real priorities.”

“You might have heard the Conservatives say that I have the wrong priorities,” Trudeau says. “They mean, of course, that I don’t share their priorities. I couldn’t agree more.”

The third-quarter returns show the Conservatives raised $3.4 million between July and September this year, compared to $4.8 million raised from April to June.

However, that $3.4 million is roughly similar to the amount raised during the summer of 2012 as well — $3.5 million — meaning that the drop could simply be a usual seasonal slump in fundraising for Harper’s party.

And in dollar terms, the Conservatives are still out-fundraising the Liberals and New Democrats, who had both been conducting concerted pushes in September to post healthy third-quarter numbers.

Liberals donations were down from the spring as well, with the party posting $2.2 million in funds raised over the summer, compared to the $2.9 million raised from April to June, immediately after Justin Trudeau won the leadership and turned over some of his campaign war-chest surplus to the party.

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Liberals are consistently raising more money than New Democrats, though, in 2013.

The NDP reports $1.5 million raised over the past summer, up slightly from the $1.3 million raised in the spring.

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