MacKay cheers as bid to alter Tory leadership-selection rules falters
Divisive proposals to give bigger riding associations in the ruling Conservative Party more clout in picking its leader have suffered an initial defeat at the Tory convention in Ottawa. But the fractious question – which reveals fault lines in a party created just eight years ago by a marriage of Red Tories and right-wing ex-Reformers – will be revived again Saturday.
Proponents for change say they’ve gathered enough signatures to force a second vote on the matter among the broader gathering of more than 2,200 Conservatives at the convention. These MPs and party members want to move beyond the leadership selection process agreed to in the 2003 deal that brought the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance together, an arrangement that gave all ridings equal clout regardless of membership numbers.
On Friday, four proposals to diminish the power of smaller riding associations were voted down in workshops that vet which suggestions for changes to the Tory constitution or policy should go to a vote of the whole convention.
The dispute is as old as the Conservative Party and this battle resurfaces regularly because of lingering dissatisfaction with rules established at the party's inception that gave all ridings equal weight regardless of their membership size.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay, an opponent of change and one of the two signatories to the Alliance-PC merger in 2003, cheered the Friday defeats. “I really believe three strikes, you’re out. It’s time we focus on party policy, on governing, on turning our eyes away from things that divide us.”
Those who want change have proposed moving to a one-member, one-vote system – while another group led by MP Scott Reid is proposing what it calls a compromise that ensures tiny riding associations aren't drowned out by big ones.
Mr. MacKay, the key Red Tory architect of the 2003 merger, warned earlier this week of dire consequence for the Conservatives should they change the rules. In an e-mail sent to Conservatives June 8, the Atlantic Canadian MP cautioned a shift away from “equality of ridings” could be corrosive for the Tories and ultimately lead to their defeat.
“If the Conservative Party makes compromises on this important founding principle, it will be a slippery slope back to Opposition,” Mr. MacKay wrote.
MacKay cheers as bid to alter Tory leadership-selection rules falters - The Globe and Mail
Divisive proposals to give bigger riding associations in the ruling Conservative Party more clout in picking its leader have suffered an initial defeat at the Tory convention in Ottawa. But the fractious question – which reveals fault lines in a party created just eight years ago by a marriage of Red Tories and right-wing ex-Reformers – will be revived again Saturday.
Proponents for change say they’ve gathered enough signatures to force a second vote on the matter among the broader gathering of more than 2,200 Conservatives at the convention. These MPs and party members want to move beyond the leadership selection process agreed to in the 2003 deal that brought the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance together, an arrangement that gave all ridings equal clout regardless of membership numbers.
On Friday, four proposals to diminish the power of smaller riding associations were voted down in workshops that vet which suggestions for changes to the Tory constitution or policy should go to a vote of the whole convention.
The dispute is as old as the Conservative Party and this battle resurfaces regularly because of lingering dissatisfaction with rules established at the party's inception that gave all ridings equal weight regardless of their membership size.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay, an opponent of change and one of the two signatories to the Alliance-PC merger in 2003, cheered the Friday defeats. “I really believe three strikes, you’re out. It’s time we focus on party policy, on governing, on turning our eyes away from things that divide us.”
Those who want change have proposed moving to a one-member, one-vote system – while another group led by MP Scott Reid is proposing what it calls a compromise that ensures tiny riding associations aren't drowned out by big ones.
Mr. MacKay, the key Red Tory architect of the 2003 merger, warned earlier this week of dire consequence for the Conservatives should they change the rules. In an e-mail sent to Conservatives June 8, the Atlantic Canadian MP cautioned a shift away from “equality of ridings” could be corrosive for the Tories and ultimately lead to their defeat.
“If the Conservative Party makes compromises on this important founding principle, it will be a slippery slope back to Opposition,” Mr. MacKay wrote.
MacKay cheers as bid to alter Tory leadership-selection rules falters - The Globe and Mail
