Sunday, January 15, 2012

Dream Of Liberal Primaries Dead

Yesterday the Liberals voted that anyone will be able to walk in off the street and vote for their next leader (for free), but today shattered my dream of Liberal primaries coast to coast to coast that all Canadians could attend. Now if "supporters" want to vote for the next Stephane Dion, they will be forced to travel to a convention. Dammit! Then again, the last time the Liberals held a leadership convention, they did a pretty good job of screwing it up themselves without any help from so called "supporters". Much now depends on where they decide to hold this convention, as Conservatives in that city will be able to walk in off the street and vote for their "favourite" candidate. This likely means that the convention will be in Montreal or Toronto.

Not only Conservatives will be voting on the next Liberal leader, but Dippers will also have the opportunity to vote for their man Bob Rae. By killing the primary idea, they will make it more difficult for Tories and Dippers to scorch their earth, but will also damage the party's ability to grow in the West. The Liberals desperately need to add to their ranks, and holding mini-conventions in every city would have provided an opportunity to attract new supporters by focusing on local issues. Granted this could all be rendered moot if Bobby figures out a way to secure permanent leadership before a convention even takes place.

Also today, Sheila Copps healthy sex life was not enough to win her the party presidency, and the Liberals voted to legalize weed. It is unlikely though that it will appear in the party's next platform, as Bob Rae was granted unilateral power to determine what policies will be in the next Red Book (we may have to call it an orange book). The legalization of marijuana will only be in the platform if Bob Rae decides to make it so. We'll see.

12 comments:

  1. One member, one vote. This is an insane way to run internal political decisions. But, what the hey, why should the Liberals learn from the Conservatives - we only raise more money and have more on the record, committed stakeholders than the other parties combined. lol Cheers.

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  2. We can hope the new LPC leader will bring about some real changes,and one of the first items on the agenda should be to distance the LPC from the old Liberal Mafia,Chretien,Martin,Copps,and any of the others left over from that era.

    Those people are the main reason so many young people are so very cynical about politics and politicians in general.

    I hope the LPC DOES renew itself and return to being the official Opposition. The current state of affairs, with hard-line communists in the O-O position,is NOT good for Canada. One scandal or slipup by Harper,and we'd have that group of extremists in government. Within five years we'd be bankrupt,with 25% unemployment,and probably half the Country on welfare. Canada would become Greece without the nice warm climate.

    The LPC has been hijacked by it's own Left,and the quicker they get rid of this element,the better off all of Canada will be.

    I'm disappointed that so many bloggers at BT are raving and hoping for the death of the LPC,without any thought to who will replace them. That replacement Party is currently the NDP.

    It's like we're replacing the Liberal "Rat" with the communist "bear", and if the NDP ever holds power Federally, we'll find out they have a much more voracious appetite than the Liberals.

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  3. Relax dmorris. The NDP is doomed without Layton. As the floor crosser said "they voted for Jack Layton. Jack Layton is dead."

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  4. Damn, that's a bummer. Wife and I were looking forward to voting and you just shattered my illusions. Somehow I don't think they will be holding a convention in Creston, B.C. so it looks like we are out of luck. :(

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  5. CTV reported tonight that there was confusion re the motion to have primaries and it may be brought back before the next leadership race.
    Did anyone mention that it could be 10 yrs before libs might have a chance to try and legalize pot. I think more voters are against that than are for it. Might elect a couple of liberals in BC but those riding are already liberal.]
    Did they pass the resolution/motion re nominating candidates and gone are the days of incumbents not needing to face competition.

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  6. Maybe the pot thing will go the way Kyoto did, agree then do nothing for years and blame the next govt for not doing it.

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  7. Who said you have to travel to the convention to vote for the next leader? The Liberal Party adopted one member one vote in 2009, and that hasn't changed from my understanding.

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  8. Jordon,you missed my point, I am not nor never will be a member of the liberal party. But they passed a motion that supporters could vote for the leader without paying dues. The only way to do this would be if they held primaries around the country. That didn't pass so it will be a convention. One member one vote did not come up re the leadership.

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  9. Jordan, I can sign up to be a Liberal "supporter", qualifying me to vote for leader. I'd like to do so. Do I need to attend the convention to excersize this right, or can I vote online?

    Remember, the convention isn't just one vote, it is a series of votes over the course of a weekend. The primary idea is dead. There will be a traditional convention with a new class of "supporter" who can sign up to vote without paying any money.

    If I live in Vancouver and the convention is in Montreal, explain to me the logistics of how I help shape the future of the Liberal Party?

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  10. From an article after the Liberals 2009 convention.

    "Federal Liberals will have more say in choosing future party leaders.

    Delegates to the party's convention this morning today adopted a one-member, one-vote leadership selection, away from delegated conventions.

    The move, which was defeated at a party convention three years ago, was endorsed today, thanks to some high-profile support that included Liberal Michael Ignatieff, who said the change was vital to the party's future success."

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  11. Excellent! So I can mail in my ballot to the convention in Montreal (or wherever) and only have to vote once? That makes it so much easier. I'm excited!

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