Author: PDO

During a press conference yesterday, Liberal Party president, Mike Crawley, said:”The board will bring clarity to whether the interim leader [Bob Rae] can seek the permanent leadership and, if so, if there’s any other conditions or requirements around how that decision will be made.”The board is expected to make its

Yesterday, in an article for Postmedia News, Lee Berthiame reported: The [national] board [of the Liberal Party], which has a number of new members, including party president Mike Crawley, is currently in the process of establishing a committee to determine the rules and guidelines for the leadership race, which must

In a column for the Globe and Mail, Rob Silver rightly points out that there is a lot of hype surrounding the Liberal Party’s biennial convention. Much of that hype has resulted from the media’s focus on a proposal for using a primary system to select the next leader of

The Liberal Party’s proposal for using staggered primaries to select its next leader is unprecedented in the history of Western democratic political parties. And there’s a good reason for that: its version is inherently undemocratic.The constitutional amendments drafted by the National Board of the party call for a 21 week

They’re available here.These are the amendments for a new leadership selection process:Electing a Leader using a system of staggered regional voting daysBackground: In order to raise the interest of the public and build momentum while selecting a Leader, the Party would use a modified version of the current Leadership Vote

You can read them here.Here’s the final version of the open primary proposal:That the Constitution be amended to extend the right to participate in the selection of the next permanent leader of LPC to all Members and Supporters as defined in section 5, permitting electronic, online and mail-in voting, utilizing

I’m starting to notice a trend.Two weeks ago, I noted that an op-ed written by Stephen Harper’s point man on Senate reform, Bert Brown, seemed deliberately tailored to blunt the criticisms of Liberal Democratic Reform critic Stephane Dion.Dion has been waging a very public attack on the Conservative’s Senate reform

Even if you don’t support the National Board’s proposal for phased open primaries, the current leadership selection process will likely have to be changed.According to the current rules for selecting the next leader of the Liberal Party, each riding is to be weighted equally. Regardless of the number of members

From Brockville’s Recorder & Times:The world needs a new economic order if it is to mitigate the effects of climate change, former Liberal leader and onetime environment minister Stéphane Dion told a local environmental group on Sunday.With a previous limit on global warming now all but impossible, the only way

In their editorial today, on the Liberal Party’s position regarding the redistribution of seats in the House of Commons, the National Post editorial board clearly demonstrates they’re in need of a high school level Canadian civics refresher course. Let’s take a closer look at Poli Sci 101 for Marc Garneau,

Steve at Far and Wide has an excellent post today that captures the excitement an open primary could bring to the Liberal leadership race. And I agree with Steve and others who feel that expanding voter eligibility would go a long way toward democratizing and rebranding the Liberal Party.The Devil,

In late October, Senator Bert Brown wrote an op-ed for the Hamilton Spectator titled, Seize the moment: Reform the Senate. In his column, Sen. Brown went beyond the Harper Government’s traditional talking points on Senate reform and offered up two new and intriguing ideas.First, Sen. Brown outlined a possible road

One of the hallmarks of democracy is an informed electorate. The phased open primaries proposed by the National Board of the Liberal Party, falls significantly short of adhering to this important principle.The campaign for permanent Liberal leader will (most likely) occur between February 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013. That’s

Let’s take a closer look at Key Proposal 7:That the Constitution be amended to extend the right to participate in the selection of the next permanent leader of LPC to all Members and Supporters as defined in section 5, permitting electronic, online and mail-in voting, utilizing either a preferential or

The Liberal Revolution, Toronto Star editorial boardPeople who hit rock bottom sometimes try to save themselves by getting into a 12-step program. Step 4 involves making “a searching and fearless moral inventory” of oneself as a condition of moving forward. If the “Roadmap to Renewal” document issued by the federal

Here’s a link to the entire 79 page document.Building A Modern Liberal PartyIn the wake of the Canadian federal election of May 2, 2011, the Liberal Party of Canada (“LPC” or “Party”) faces an unprecedented challenge. Reduced to third party status in the House of Commons for the first time

Namely that Postmedia News got it wrong on the Senator’s new override proposal for a reformed Senate.Re: “Father of Triple-E Senate rethinks ‘equal’ part?; Proposal gives Ontario, Quebec veto power on legislation: professor,” The Journal, Nov. 3.This article mischaracterizes the intent of our Senate reform proposals and wrongly insinuates that