Moving Beyond The Partisan
A couple of years ago, I expressed my disgust with partisan politics and proposed a model that is intended to break the connection between party discipline, insularity, and policy platforms.…
party reform
Liberal Party of Canada presidential candidate interview: Anna Gainey
From February 20-23, federal Liberals will gather in Montreal, and one of their tasks will be to elect a new national executive. Last week, I published interviews with some of…
Liberal Party of Canada presidential candidate Interview: Brian Rice
*I’m on my BlackBerry and for technical reasons can’t currently edit more than the top few paragraphs of this post. But below, the former LPC(BC) president should be David Merner,…
Brian Rice: The right person for President of the Liberal Party of Canada
Brian Rice – Political reformer par excellence For many reasons, I believe that Liberals should elect Brian Rice as the next President of the Liberal Party. He is a mover…
My problems with Chong’s Reform Act and my own preferences for reform
Having finally gotten around to reading Michael Chong’smuch-ballyhooed Reform Act, which is being pushed by the media pundit class with a fervor that would make most partisans blush, I feel…
Thought’s On Chong’s Reform Bill
Michael Chong’s Bill C-559 is a relatively short piece of work, but it has taken me a bit of time to go through it and start to understand the implications…
Parliamentarians and the yoke of party discipline
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending a screening of Whipped, a documentary on party discipline by former BC legislature reporter Sean Holman. You can now stream…
Both hope and fear drove Liberal delegates in Ottawa
Looking back on my three days in Ottawa for the 2012 Liberal Party of Canada biennial convention it’s impossible to craft one clear narrative – did delegates embrace bold change…
Kyle Harrietha’s speech to Liberals about membership
As I speak Kyle Harrietha, who I’m proud to support for Liberal membership secretary this weekend, is speaking to the nearly 3000 delegates at the Liberal biennial convention about his…
Kyle Harrietha’s eight-page plan for Liberal membership
Before Christmas, when I wrote about why I was supporting Kyle Harrietha for Liberal membership secretary I spoke about his dedication to the Liberal cause, working for the party on…
36 proposed Liberal constitutional amendments dissected and explained
Happy New Year to all; I hope you enjoyed the holidays. EspeciallyChristmas. I won’t say I’m resolving toblog more this year but I will try, and I’m sure I definitely…
Primaries and mustaches
As promised earlier, I've written about the Liberal executive's open primary leadership election proposal. You've got to go over to Macleans.ca to read it though; I'll be occasionally writing for…
We need to make a Liberal membership worth having
I’m working on a piece about the Liberal executive’s open primary proposal that will hopefully run Friday, but rather than make it even longer I’d like to tackle some of…
What I’m looking for in a Liberal Party of Canada president
A key part of the Liberal Party of Canada’s reform process will be electing the next national executive at the biennial convention in January, and I’m glad to see we…
Apparently the Liberals are dead. Who knew?
Like clockwork, there's been another rash of obituaries written proclaiming the death of the Liberal Party of Canada. And what they lack in actual data points and evidence, they attempt…
There can be no shortcuts for the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party of Canada's summer caucus meetings begin today in Ottawa, and I've already heard some rumblings and musings from those quarters that give me pause, and cause for…
Liberals, we must commit to using this time for rebuilding
Well over 2000 Liberals spent a few hours Saturday afternoon taking part in an extraordinary convention via teleconference to make a few decisions about the path forward for our party.…
Liberals: Let’s not wait until 2013 to pick our leader
I've been informed that my sub-amendment on leadership timing has been accepted and will be debated during the Liberal extraordinary convention tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who pledged their support to…
Liberals: I need your help changing the leadership selection timeline
(UPDATED: See bottom of post)If you're a Liberal who was acclaimed as a delegate to the upcoming extraordinary convention to change/set the timing for the next leadership race and you're…
Why the interim leader shouldn’t run for permanent leader
There has been much debate in Liberal circles about the insistence by the national executive that the interim leader of the party agree to not run for the permanent leadership,…