Saturday, May 7, 2011

23 Days left to Choose Interim Leader and Announce Leadership Rules

In Case you are not familiar with the Liberal Party Constitution, let me share it with you. I do this because we campaigned on Contempt of Parliament, so I have an issue with Liberals being in Contempt of their own constitution.

54 Call of Leadership Vote
(1) The Leader ceases immediately to be the Leader when:

(a) due to incapacity, the Leader ceases to be recognized by the Governor-General
as the leader of the Party in the House of Commons;
(b) the Leader dies;
(c) there are published in accordance with this Constitution the results of a
Leadership Endorsement Ballot in which the Leader is not endorsed;32
(d) the National Board of Directors declares in accordance with Subsection 55(2)
that the result of a Leadership Vote is invalid.

(2) If the Leader publicly announces an intention to resign or if the Leader delivers to the National President a written resignation or a written request to call a Leadership Vote, then the Leader ceases to be the Leader on the earlier of the appointment of an Interim Leader and when a new Leader is elected by the members of the Party.

(3) In the circumstances set out in Subsection 54(1), if the Leader publicly announces an intention to resign or if the Leader delivers to the National President a written resignation or a written request to call a Leadership Vote, the National President must call a meeting of the National Board of Directors to be held within 27 days, and at that meeting the National Board of Directors must:

(a) in the circumstances set out in Subsection 54(1) or if the Leader so requests, in
consultation with the Caucus, appoint an “Interim Leader”;
(b) set a date for a Leadership Vote to be held within five months;
(c) fix a deposit, refundable or otherwise, to be paid by each leadership contestant in accordance with the requirements of the National Board of Directors before the Leadership Vote is completed;
(d) set a maximum limit for the leadership contestant expenses that may be
incurred by any leadership contestant;
(e) establish the Leadership Expenses Committee consisting of:
(i) two co-chairs, one of whom must be a man and one of whom must a
woman and one of whom must be English-speaking and one of whom
must be French-speaking;
(ii) the Chief Financial Officer;
(iii) two persons elected by the PTA Presidents from among the PTA
Presidents and the National Vice-Presidents, one of whom must be
English-speaking and one of whom must be French-speaking;
(iv) two representatives appointed by the Caucus;
(v) any number of other members of the Party appointed by the co-chairs in
consultation with the National Board of Directors and respecting the
principle of equal participation of men and women and the recognition of
English and French as the official languages of Canada;
(f) establish the Leadership Vote Committee consisting of:
(i) two co-chairs;
(ii) the National President;
(iii) two persons elected by the PTA Presidents from among the PTA
Presidents and the National Vice-Presidents, one of whom must be
English-speaking and one of whom must be French-speaking;
(iv) two representatives appointed by the Caucus;
(v) any number of other members of the Party appointed by the co-chairs in
consultation with the National Board of Directors and respecting the
principle of equal participation of men and women and the recognition of
English and French as the official languages of Canada.

1 comment:

Craig Chamberlain said...

(Now that would be a curious contradiction. Perhaps it would not be lost on Mr. Harper. Or the ever-principled opportunistic Mr. Layton.)