My latest column.
The Liberal Party of Canada held its “renewal” convention this weekend in Ottawa.
This has been touted in the national media as the party’s big chance to renew and rebuild after their worst election results ever.
There is no doubt the Liberals need to rebuild and find a sense of purpose. In last May’s federal election the so-called “natural governing party” got less than 20% of the vote and only 34 seats.
But this weekend’s convention was more of the same old — watching it felt like a documentary on the politics of the 1990s.
Bob Rae was trying to persuade people that a 63-year-old failed former NDP premier of Ontario is the face of the future.
In another blast from the past, former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps was nearly elected to the presidency of the party. And the young Liberals were up to their same old antics, sponsoring radical policies like abolishing the monarchy and decriminalizing marijuana.
The most interesting thing that came out of the convention was the decision to open up the next leadership election not just to all party members, but to a new category called “supporters.”
The theory is there are millions of Canadian voters out there who want to participate in the Liberal party leadership, but are currently kept out by the barrier of a $10 membership fee.
The plan is these “supporters” will flock to vote in the leadership, to be held in 2013, allowing the Liberals to connect with many more Canadians and forming the base for victory in the 2015 election.
This whole plan smacks of the entitlement attitude, which has reduced the Liberals to third place. They assume that all they need to do is open the front door and people will come streaming in.
They might get a few curious tourists, but I don’t know anyone who thinks there is a large pent-up demand of people wanting to get involved in the Liberal Party of Canada. As any shop owner will tell you, an open door is not enough — you have to have products that will bring in customers.
The Liberals need policies, they need a direction, they need something more than opening their door to the country and simply saying, “Come on in, we’re somewhere between the Tories and the NDP, and we used to run the place.”
5 Responses to The Liberal Party opens to ‘supporters’
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The private sector long ago realized the necessity of charging a token entrance fee to trade shows and craft fairs to keep the riff-raff out and ensure participants were really interested in the product.
I suspect the Liberals will live to regret their free “supporting” membership plan.
A wide open door might lead to things they don’t want at all. Another party that already has strong support could send everyone over to the convention to vote for the person they see as being the easiest to beat in the next election. That wouldn’t even be dishonest, they would be voting for the person they want to be Liberal leader.
I got the feeling that the open door policy was created so the liberals could push for legislation that gets EC to fund party conventions. It’s not to hard to make the case that they would need an unbiased third party to weed out the folks that want to manipulate the process. For that “reason” the liberals will want EC to run their leadership process…..after all for liberals, the govenment and their party are one and the same.
Kathryn,I seen you on tv.debating that idiot john Bennett,and I’m proud of the way you conducted yourself.I always look forward to seeing you on tv.You are a very intelligent lady.Gerald from New Brunswick
Acutally I think it is a great strategy for us and the NDP. First off, the more D… is mzilrnagiaed and left out of the central debate, the more people will concentrate on who they want to be government and who they want to be the official opposition. Conservatives for government and NDP for official opposition. Harper and Layton should make a concerted effort to never, never mention D…’s name and to always respond in a manner that treats anything Liberals say as a voice from the darkness, a third tier group. Be nice, polite but never respond to them as if what they are saying is of any value. Ignore them and they will go away. (Let’s hope)