Liberal Inc.

There have been many discussions over the past weeks regarding the proposed constitution and it’s potential impact on the party. While the party leadership and those opposed rarely agree on any of the issues, there is one point that can’t be disputed. The Liberal Party of Canada plans to create a massive corporate entity, an entity which will be paid for by the members, donors and EDA’s across Canada.

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When is a survey not a survey?

The Liberal Party has made a lot of claims surrounding their recent survey of the membership. During a recent National Town Hall Telephone call, LPC National President stated that there were actually two surveys conducted. These two surveys yielded approximately 2000 responses. So based on less than 5% of the national membership and less than .5% of the number of ‘Supporting’ members the LPC considers this to be consultation. However, many people who actually saw the survey have serious problems with it. Further many members never even saw it.
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The smoking gun???

Ever since this omnibus constitution was unveiled to the membership I have wondered what the true agenda was. The party leadership likes to use terms like “Modernization”, however, any experienced leader knows that this is just a political spin word that really means nothing. Whether a Corporate entity or a Political party, when an organization undertakes a massive restructuring of power and control there must be a reason. During our discussions amongst many Liberals across the country I often posed the question, “Why are they doing this? What is the real agenda? Well it seems one of my fellow Liberals may have stumbled onto something.

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When Conservatives teach Liberals membership respect …

It’s truly a sad day when I write the above title. However a recent article Angry at party brass, grassroots Conservatives ready for change AKIN in the Edmonton Sun shared with me by a fellow Liberal got me wondering.

The Conservatives have watched themselves and their party take a lesson in humility. While the party leadership seem to miss the message, the grassroots members across the country have not. Continue reading “When Conservatives teach Liberals membership respect …”

What the members wanted, not what they received.

In 2012 at the Ottawa Biennial Convention, the Ontario PTA proposed a policy on Democratic Renewal within the party. This proposal was subsequently given number 18 and was listed among the policies Policy-resolutions-2012-Ottawa-en for debate. You will find Proposal number 18 on page 29 of the resolutions.

Policy number 18 was subsequently discussed and debated and based on the information I have, was passed by a vote of 2,640 (80%) of the voting delegates. It was listed among the successful Policy Resolutions 2012 Policy-Results for the Ottawa Biennial.

The truly unfortunate part, is that if any component of the party; the NBOD, a Commission, the CoP, even a PTA  had picked up the ball, respected the wishes of the membership and created the “Renewal Commission” which the membership requested, today we would not be in the position that the party finds itself.

The Town Hall Phone Call that 100’s missed

If you missed out on the Town Hall Telephone call on May 11 I am able to now offer it to you.

I have to warn all listeners that I only thought of doing this as the conversation started so the quality is very poor. It was recorded by a cell phone sitting beside the ear piece.  This means there are some occasional background noises.

I did ask Anna and Simon for a quality copy however, first I was told “No, we don’t have a recording of the call to distribute.” Then I was told they didn’t have one at all. So this seems to be the best there is for the almost 2000 delegates who were not part of the call. Please understand, any silent parts or problems with recording are solely mine and my responsibility.

The Flawed Logic.

The proposed constitution is filled with Flawed Logic. Which begs the question, why is the party leadership so determined to achieve its passage? The leadership must know that all these people who will not pay $10 to become a Liberal member are not going to suddenly find money to donate to the party. Of course it seems those behind this omnibus document believe that the “Registered Liberals” of Canada will be no match for the persuasive powers of the media arm of the big red machine. There is also an opinion within the party as published in its “Building a Modern Liberal Party”

Let’s consider the Flawed Logic of just how many people will really care to become “Registered Liberals”. The party has often spoken of the 300,000 supporters who came to the party when the doors were opened to them. One important fact which is often omitted from the discussion however is where these supporters came from. The first ranks of the Supporter class came from expired Liberals. That’s right, tens of thousands of people who no longer cared about being a member of the Liberal party, were suddenly drafted into our ranks as Supporters and in some flawed logic it was believed that they were going to suddenly find their way home to the party. But did they?

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Why Vote NO!

This is perhaps the most common question faced by those of us who are openly expressing concern about the lack of member consultation and engagement in the process of developing this proposed constitution.

This Biennial Convention has the potential to be the most divisive in many years. However, those opposing it see no option. When the issue first arose there was much anticipation that the vote would split along a “generational divide” however this has not proven to be the case. Instead, positions have largely developed along what what has been termed “experiential divide”.

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A Possible Solution

Many people might feel it is easy to sit on the sidelines and criticise the efforts of others while offering no solution yourself. We are saying this proposed constitution is the wrong direction for the party. We are saying it has been created without membership consultation or engagement. It is a decree from above of how the leadership of the party plan to centralize the party and all its decision making. Do we offer however,an alternative solution?

An Alternative Solution

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