Grits should get rid of lieutenants

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff should abolish appointments and point the party in the direction of nomination democracy.

By SHEILA COPPS

Published October 5, 2009

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10/08/09 at 10:10 pm

By Wilfred Day

Sheila Copps is right.

You can't turn on the television without hearing of a candidate being appointed to run for parliament somewhere in Canada.

In Germany, this would be illegal.

But isn't Germany the place, you may ask, where half the MPs are elected on a party list? Aren't they appointed? And anyway, can't parties do whatever they like?

No, and no. Germany has laws to guarantee democratic nominations.

Why can't Canada have laws making nominations democratic?

http://wilfday.blogspot.com/2009/10/democratic-nominations-why-is-germany.html

10/05/09 at 10:10 am

By Jennifer Smith

Thank you! There does seem to be a growing chorus of Liberals calling for the abolition of candidate appointments. If we get loud enough, maybe something good will eventually come out of this mess.

I'm in Halton where we got our own appointed candidate to run against Lisa Raitt. Happily, Deb Gillis is an extraordinary woman who I probably would have voted for anyway. I just wish I had been given the chance to.

I believe we have to go one step further, though, and also get rid of 'insta-members' by increasing the time required for someone to be a member before they can vote. I know, I know, the present system is a big cash cow for the party. But face it - out of those 2,300 new membership sold in Oakville, how many will actually renew and get involved? 200? Maybe 300? Shouldn't membership mean more than $10 for the party coffers?

The only legitimate reason for candidate appointments is to prevent the manipulation of the selection process by special interest groups - churches, unions, ethnic communities, whoever - through the mass selling of memberships. Without appointments, that potential for manipulation remains unless we simultaneously do away with insta-members.

<a href="http://www.queensu.ca/csd/documents/TheDemocraticDeficitintheLiberalPartyofCanada.pdf">Sheila Gervais</a> already wrote the prescription for reform five years ago. High time we filled it.

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