Mike Savage mayoralty campaign raised $342K

The campaign team for Mike Savagethe newly-elected mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality has revealed they raised a total of $342,370.99.

According to a list posted on Savage's website, the campaign raised a total of $306,805 in cash and $35,565 in donations from 452 different donors. The donors included individuals, unions, businesses and corporations.

Savage directed his campaign team not to accept donations exceeding $5,000, according to a news release.

Developers were among the biggest donors: Southwest Properties Ltd.,which owns and operates more than 1,250 apartments and condominiums in downtown Halifax; United Gulf Developments Ltd., the developer behind the controversial Skye Halifax development; Wadih Fares, president ofW.M. Fares Group and the developer behind the Trillium condominium on South Park Street; Frances Faris, developer behind King's Wharf in Dartmouth.

Savage also received donations from politicians from all stripes, including Liberal MPs Rodger Cuzner,Wayne Easter, Mark Eyking, Ralph Goodale, Dominic LeBlanc, Lawrence MacAulay, Geoff Regan andJustin Trudeau.

New Democrat MP Megan Leslie also contributed, as did former Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful Bill Black, former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister Tim Olive and LiberalSenator Catherine Callbeck, the former premier of P.E.I.

Of the total 452 donations, 24 were between $2,500 and $4,999. The majority of donations 307 were under $1,000. There were 104 contributions between $1,000 and $2,499.

There were 17 donations at the self-imposed maximum of $5,000:

• Southwest Properties Ltd.
• United Gulf Developments Ltd.
• Briar Group Inc.
• Chanterelle Holdings Ltd. (Allan Shaw)
• Five Fishermen/Cornwallis Property Ltd.
• O'Regan's Toyota Dartmouth
• Jane and Rob Merchant
• The Westin Nova Scotian
• The Hardman Group Ltd.
• Sitework Developing Inc.
• Waverly Duck Investments
• Steele Auto Group
• Armco Capital Inc.
• Local 56 Public Relations
• Eastlink
• Ryan Duffy's (In kind)
• Halifax Signs Ltd. (In kind)

Transparency surrounding campaign donations was brought up multiple times in the run-up to the municipal election on Oct. 20.

At a debate including all six mayoralty candidates, Savage was the only one who refused to open his campaign books before online voting began. He promised to disclose his list of donors after the election.