Sunday, January 8, 2012

Would You Attend Liberal Primaries?

Today's poll question; are you interested in attending a Liberal primary near you to vote on their next leader? The Liberals are holding a convention in the coming weeks to decide which process they will use to choose Bob Rae to lead the party into the next election. Right now the popular idea is to hold American style primaries in a number of cities and provinces. I'm definitely interested in attending the Vancouver primary to vote for the next Stephane Dion, but only on the condition that it is free to vote. I'm not giving a penny to the Liberal party, but absolutely I'd show up to help them choose their leader if given the opportunity.

Since this primary process is a potentially expensive proposition for the nearly bankrupt Liberals, it is unlikely that there would be free admission to cast a vote. The most likely method would be selling $10 or $20 memberships for the right to vote in order to help them pay for the process. The more expensive they make it, the fewer people will show up. I doubt that the Liberals want Conservatives voting on their leader.

Given that there is an "anybody but Rae" camp within the Liberal party there will be proposed rules to curb the future leader's power. Many of them are afraid at the carnage that would ensue if Bobby were allowed to unilaterally write their party platform heading into the next election campaign, especially regarding mergers and coalitions. Though I imagine that Liberal opposition to a power sharing agreement with the NDP will gradually diminish the longer they are out of power.

16 comments:

  1. Martha Hall Findlay would be the only one I'd vote for,but it appears to me she's not liberal enough,or I should say,not lieberal enough.Gerald

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  2. You obviously haven't read much on this seeing the idea of having a primary system is to allow people to vote for free, which is stated in almost any news story on the proposal. You'd also have to sign a form declaring to be a Liberal supporter, and wouldn't be able to be a member of another party.

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  3. Well then Jordan since I'm not a member of any other party, it would be looking good for me.

    Perhaps the "idea" is to vote for free, but that is dependent on the party having enough money to pay for all these primaries. The Liberals still haven't finished paying for their last leadership contest. They are allowed to set their own rules, and I'm anticipating that they are going to charge money. It's not a fact, it is a prediction.

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  4. Unless they have paid up membership lists of all the parties, how would they know if you showed up to vote. You can only join the ndp if you state your are not a member of another party. Wonder how Nycole slipped thru that loophole.

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  5. Are you nuts? I wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near an area with that many liberals. It would be just as bad as living in Ontario, Quebec or the Maritimes! Never been out east, never want to be. That's not part of my Canada thank you.

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  6. Anonymous,I'll have you know that the Atlantic Provinces are heaven compared to the rest of Canada.The other provinces aren't safe to live in.I would live in Boston Ma. before I'd live in Montreal,Calgary,Vancouver,Toronto,etc.,etc.,etc.Gerald,a New Brunswicker,the real Canada

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  7. If you read the articles on it they are voting on setting up supporters, who are not the same as members. These are the people who would be able to vote in leadership primaries, and would be allowed to do so for free. It only costs like $20 to buy a membership so why would the party setup a supporter system and make them pay $20? What do leadership candidates owing money have to do with the party? I'm not that into the Liberals but they don't seem to be bankrupt, they raised $1 million in 12 days in December.

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  8. Gerald if you still live in the Atlantis Province's (other than THE ROCK) you might consider moving to Calgary . You would not have to wait for your share of equalization payment. You could maybe scrounge them right here at the source.

    Rob C

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  9. @Gerald: Your the reason so many Albertans wish for separation from Canada. If we separated and kept our natural resources, you would starve and freeze with all the other bastard out east. Have fun spending my money now!

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  10. New Brunswick? Isn't that the place where french speakers are more equal then non french speakers? Isn't that the place where English schools are no longer allowed to exist and have to be "bilingual", while french schools are, well... french only? Sounds like a great place...(sarc).

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  11. Let freedom reign! Primaries would be great for our democracy.

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  12. Depending on how the rules are setup you might be able to get one of the candidate's campaigns to buy your membership for you. If it's allowed that's what I'll do. It's all Liberal money that way anyway so I'm just screwing them over and not helping them with a donation.

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  13. You are a fucking moron, Iceman. It's not a 'primary,' it's a leadership election. Where are you from? Khazakhstan?

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  14. Poor anon, very late to the party. Guess he is unaware that some liberals have suggested primaries to elect a leader. Iceman is only asking, would you attend or vote in a primary, if you could.
    If one could buy a membership at the door of the poll, like you can in a conservative vote for leader in AB, I would probably do it and vote for the least capable one running. Worked with the non conservative union voters here in two elections for leader.

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  15. I wouldn't. If I need a dose of BS, I'll go visit my neighbor's barn, thank you very much!

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  16. Used to carry a Liberal card when neighbour asked me to vote for him/her. Gone are the days. They were fun.

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