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The $1,000 contribution would have come after the party’s leadership race began, following the death of Layton in August. Mulcair was reported to be mulling a bid for the party’s top job in September.

A record of this contribution is not yet public because the fourth-quarter financial reports filed with the parties have not yet been published by Elections Canada.

The $199 Mulcair said he gave was the same amount early-bird registrants paid to the party to attend its annual convention, fees that are considered reportable donations to the party. It would not appear in the quarterly reports because it is below the threshold for publication required by Elections Canada if the donor gave no other contributions during the same year.

Mulcair told iPolitics he wanted to keep his donations in Quebec so he gave instead to his riding association. The Elections Canada records show he gave three donations over three years to the Outremont riding association, totalling $1,106. He also made non-monetary donations totalling $1,266 to his own election campaigns in 2007 and 2008.

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The party asks its MPs to contribute to its federal wing to show leadership and help fundraising drives aimed at rank-and-file members. And since MPs earn more than $155,000 annually, the donation shouldn’t be too onerous. After tax credits are applied, the full $1,100 contribution would cost the donor only $506.

The requirement for sitting NDP MPs to donate appears be have been followed by most in the caucus. A review of the full last year on record, 2010, shows most caucus members gave at or close to the $1,100, or more.

But Mulcair and five other NDP MPs failed to pay the full tithe that year — Ontario MPs Charlie Angus and Tony Martin, BC’s Fin Donnelly and Alberta’s Linda Duncan, and Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington.

Angus began contributing $91.66 monthly — an amount that totals $1,100 over the full year — in August. Martin made the same monthly contribution, but only until April 2010. Duncan gave $50 monthly. Bevington’s monthly donations ended in July.

Ottawa Citizen