The B.C. Liberal Party is still trying to pick itself up off the floor in the wake of a bizarre election loss and the unexpected and sudden departure of their leader.
Some prominent members of the party tell me they fear the so-called “free enterprise coalition” could very easily break apart if everyone’s not careful.
The looming party leadership race could assist in keeping the coalition together, but it could also accelerate its collapse. The contest will no doubt see both liberal and conservative candidates, and the tensions that exist between them will be put on public display.
So why doesn’t the party try something different when it comes to choosing its next leader? I’m referring to returning to the days of a “delegated” leadership convention, where delegates from each of the 87 ridings gather for a few days in the same location and fight it out on the convention floor, voting as many ballots as it takes to elect a successor to Christy Clark.
As of this column’s writing, the party executive had not chosen the rules that will govern the leadership race and it may well stay with the status quo when it comes to picking a leader.
If the executive sticks to the more modern method of using personal PIN numbers that come from mass sign-up of members, the party will lose a chance to reinvigorate itself. The mass sign-up method is wide open to abuse and cheating. In fact, the leadership wins by both Clark and former NDP leader Adrian Dix were the subject of accusations (largely kept quiet by both parties) that not all was right when it came to sign-ups and PINs.
The PIN process lacks drama, energy and, most importantly, transparency. People sit at home, dialing in their choice. No one has to talk to any other party member, and only a handful of party activists actually take the time to gather in one place and try to create some excitement. The sign-up process largely takes place in South Asian temples, a tried-and-true method of getting signatures. But there is little evidence people who sign up during this process remain party members very long or become active in the party.
Contrast all those negatives with the electrifying buzz that can come from a delegated convention: hundreds of people (all of them required to show considerable commitment to the party in order to become a delegate in the first place) on the convention floor, with the candidates occupying their own sections in the stands.
I have covered several of them – the 1983 win by Brian Mulroney, the 1984 NDP convention that chose Bob Skelly on five ballots,
and the huge 1986 Social
Credit race won by Bill Vander Zalm – and all were grand events.
We’ll see if the B.C. Liberals reach into the past to shape their future, and in so doing perhaps hold their party together.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.
