CPC leadership vote methods
This deal breaker issue that created the Conservative Party has reared its head again. That, or the CBC is making mountains out of molehills again.
So on the one hand, you have 'one member one vote' folks from the old Canadian Alliance/Reform Party.
On the other, you have 'equally weighted riding' folks from the old Progressive Conservative Party.
I believe the agreed one when the party was created was equally weighted ridings but where a riding needed a minimum of 100 members, giving them 100 points.
Now, you're asking, what does an old Reformer like me prefer?
I actually think 'one member one vote' is not good. That's not how our federal elections run, nor is it how we select our prime minister. Ridings must be respected--it's a fundamental aspect of a parliamentary representative democracy. Ridings are the organizational grassroot itself. Without them, being a member of a party is basically useless and it's where campaign teams are borne out of. As well, it pits large member regions against smaller ones and that's not good for unity or equality across the country.
But I also think the delegate/convention system is good. I think there should be a single leadership convention like in the old days and delegates vote on behalf of riding. Then the run off votes happen in the same day. It's bloody exciting... and well... bloody (ask David Orchard). It's true blood bath politics. Separate run off votes weeks later that the Canadian Alliance had wasted money and time and it was not as exciting. I was there.
As well, why is the party even bothering to look at this non-issue? Stephen Harper's going to be Prime Minister for the next 8 years at least anyway.
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4 comments:
This idea that each riding is equally weighted regardless of how many CPC members it has goes back to Belinda Stronachs run at the Conservative leadership. She figured she could use the Stronach money to bring together as few as 100 CPC insta memeberships in a QC riding and that riding would have the same wieght as Edm Strathcona which had over 100,000 members.
This was an attempted theft and takeover of the new Conservative Party by the oldline Eastern political elite of the discredited PC's. The media and Stronachs people pigeonholed Harper on the issue, so he said fine, each riding shall be equally weighted, lets get on with the vote.
Even with that advantage, Stronach failed (had she been successful we would have seen Belinda Stronach as PM in the 06 election.)
So that little bit of mischeif is still on the books and the Eastern Polical elites see it as their backdoor into trying to seize power of the party again.
Ms. Stronach would never have won the Big Job. Diehard Conservatives like myself that campaigned hard for the new Conservative party would have sat on our hands.
I voted Reform in Ontario before it was cool. people like me will never support sellout CINO's.
Well, Harper still won handily under the equal riding formula, so your point is kind of moot.
Peter Mckay said: "This is a divisive debate our Party does not need to have again"
What's divisive is the fact that we ever agreed to get rid of one member one vote in the first place. It's a vitally important issue that has been eating at a lot of Reformers since the merger.
Doubly divisive is having an old PCer tell the heart of the party to "sit down and shut up" about it.
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