The Federal NDP signed up 45,000 new members to bring their national membership to 128,000 members.
NDP Leadership Candidates (Clement Allard/Canadian Press)
That sounds like a lot.
But to put it into context, the BC Liberals had a membership of 96,000 going into their leadership vote, with about 40,000 of them being new members. That is in BC. One Province, and not the largest Province in the Country either.
So what the NDP are really celebrating here is that in a national race for Leader of Her Majesty’s Official Opposition they can barely beat an unpopular provincial party in terms generating interest in the race
I think with the supporters model – and if we learn from what the BC Liberals did well – the Liberal Party of Canada can do way better than this. If we sign up an average of 1,000 supporters per riding, we’d be talking more than 300,000 people being eligible to vote for the Leader. And I think an average of 1,000 is a low number.
It doesn’t matter who you support or don’t support for leadership of the LPC. What matters is that this upcoming Leadership race is a chance to capture the imagination and passion of Canadians. It is an opportunity to let them connect with our party, and politics in this country. If we remember that as we debate vigorously and passionately about our new leader and the future of our Party, I think we will find that lost connection with Canadians.
And really, isn’t that the point?