Candidates from Surrey’s five ridings spent more than $52,000 on Facebook ads alone over the last 30 days.
And some candidates had far better results than others.
According to Facebook’s “Ad Library,” Liberal candidate and now Cloverdale-Langley City MP-elect John Aldag spent the most on Facebook ads in the days leading up to the election with $12,300. The second most spent was Aldag’s Conservative rival, incumbent Tamara Jansen, who spent $10,600.
Each Liberal candidate spent more than Conservative candidates on Facebook ads, with one exception.
Fleetwood-Port Kills Liberal incumbent and now MP-elect Ken Hardie spent a whopping $0 on Facebook ads. He’s the only elected representative to win without buying Facebook advertisements.
Liberal candidates Randeep Sarai (MP-elect Surrey Centre) spent $10,300; Gordie Hogg (South Surrey-White Rock), who was defeated, spent $6,220, and Sukh Dhaliwal (MP-elect Surrey-Newton) spent $1,140.
In total, Liberal candidates paid Facebook nearly $30,000 for ‘sponsored posts,’ while the Conservatives paid $12,951, according to Facebook data.
South Surrey-White Rock MP-elect Kerry-Lynne Findlay was the only Conservative candidate to win in the city. She spent $1,900.
In the 30 days prior to the election, New Democrats spent $6,460, most of which was spent by Cloverdale-Langley City candidate Rajesh Jayaprakash ($5,330).
Nationally, Facebook’s tracker shows that the Liberal Party of Canada – which, led by Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau, won Monday’s election – spend $2.2 million dollars advertising on the popular social-media website, while the Conservatives spent $2 million in total. The NDP spent $1.7 million while the People’s Party of Canada spent $60,400 and the Green Party of Canada spent $6,000. The Quebec-based Bloc Quebecois, meanwhile, spent $139,000.
These advertising expenditures – which are self-reported by Facebook – do not include other advertising costs through media such as newspapers, radio or signage. It also does not include ads on Instagram (which is owned by Facebook) or other social media platforms. Complete financial information from the campaigns, through Elections Canada, won’t be available for several months.
