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VICTORIA – B.C.’s governing New Democratic Party led opponents in political fundraising for the last half of 2018, under new rules it implemented that ban corporate and union donations.

The NDP raised almost $2.05 million between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2018, according to new figures released Monday by Elections B.C. Compared to that, the Opposition B.C. Liberals raised $1.69 million and the B.C. Greens raised almost $439,000 in the same period.

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The government passed legislation in 2017 that forbid corporate and union donations to political parties and set a cap on maximum personal donations of $1,225 a year. The NDP argued that massive political donations by corporations to the previous Liberal government, as well as union donations to the NDP, were a distorting influence on politics.

The ban also came with a per-vote government financial assistance program for political parties.

In total in 2018, the NDP earned almost $5.3 million in funding, the Liberals $4.4 million and the Greens $1.5 million, including all of its fundraising efforts and government financial assistance.