OTTAWA, October 7, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Conservative MPs will not face nomination challenges for the next federal election if the election is held soon, according to the party’s Interim Council.
A report in today’s Globe and Mail indicates the decision was taken by the Interim Council this past weekend as a result of pressure from worried MPs. Conservative Party President Don Plett is quoted in the Globe: “With the precarious situation that we have in the House, we want to make sure that our MPs are concentrating on running the affairs of the country and are available in Ottawa, as opposed to worrying about their nomination races.”
Federal Liberal MPs have been publicly suggesting for weeks that they should be protected from nomination challenges, claiming their increased workload resulting from the minority parliament will require them to spend more time in Ottawa and less time in their constituencies. The national executive of the Liberal Party of Canada has not yet decided whether Liberal Party MPs will receive such protection. As there has been no such public outcry from Conservative MPs, the CPC Interim Council’s early decision on this issue comes as somewhat of a surprise.
The party’s Interim Council was appointed after the December 2003 CA-PC party merger by then Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper and then Progressive Conservative Party leader Peter McKay. The non-elected Interim Council has the authority to make decisions on internal party matters until the membership of the new party can elect its first national executive in conjunction with its 2005 National Convention.
The unelected, and unaccountable Interim Council has a record of making controversial and undemocratic decisions, and usually without a process of public consultation with party members. Early this winter, the Interim Council debarred a number of candidates from running for nomination in their local constituencies, most notably former Saskatchewan PC Premier Grant Devine. At the time, Campaign Life Coalition President Jim Hughes expressed great concern over the drift of the new Conservative Party to Liberal Party-style trampling of grassroots democracy.
“With this latest move to protect incumbent MPs from nomination challenges, the Conservative Party is guilty of the same heavy-handed tactics employed by former Liberal Leader Jean Chretien,” said Hughes. “I am shocked the Conservatives would resort to such a measure when not even the Paul Martin Liberals have taken such an undemocratic step for the next election cycle.” Later this fall and over the winter, Conservative Party members will meet in their ridings to select delegates to the founding convention of the Conservative Party of Canada, scheduled to take place in March 2005 in Montreal. Delegates at this convention will debate the policies for the new party, adopt a constitution, and elect a new national executive to replace the Interim Council. “The grassroots members of the old Canadian Alliance and federal PC’s are still around,” added Hughes, “and I hope, once the delegates at that convention have their say, the new party constitution will restore the power to the grassroots members to nominate their own candidate, free from party headquarters’ interference and pressure.”