As a provincial Conservative candidate, Scott McInnis may not may have financed his campaign on social media as much as his close NDP competitor, nor spent much on functions or promotional material.
But the fact he spent more than twice as much on advertising may have helped him narrowly win his electoral district last October, based on spending numbers released by Elections BC this week.
The Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA had a brief provincial election campaign last year as a BC United member, with only $6,100 in expenditures. This included $2,591 for advertising, $1,997 for functions and $1,512 for travel. He divided spending evenly between print media, promotional material, radio and social media, at $423 each.
But hopping on with the Conservative Party of BC, McInnis poured $29,178 into his campaign, adding up to surpass the $30,761 in expenses that BC NDP candidate Andrea Dunlop reported. This is relatively proportional to the electoral district's voter results, with McInnis securing a winning 47.9 per cent of votes and Dunlop earning a close 44.3 per cent.
McInnis's Conservative advertising campaign, however, outspent Dunlop's more than twofold, $21,002 to her $10,444.
Dunlop additionally spent $9,968 on professional services and $2,053 on travel. Meanwhile, McInnis had $4,200 in accounting and audit services, and $3,721 in personal expenses.
He also received $7,200 in contributions from 10 individuals, including $300 from Revelstoke's George Buhler, who's had roles as president of the Revelstoke Rod and Gun Club and a member of the city's economic committee. Buhler also ran as a candidate for the Columbia Shuswap Regional District in 2018.
BC Green Party candidate Calvin Beauchesne had a much smaller, $4,040 campaign, with a majority $2,772 spent on advertising. His portion of the vote last October, against McInnis and Dunlop, was 7.8 per cent.
The full list of candidate expenditures from the 2024 provincial election is available at contributions.electionsbc.gov.bc.ca/cps.