Vote FOR Liberal Party Democracy, Vote AGAINST Constitutional Amendments

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Dear Liberal Family,

On Monday May 2nd, 2011, we Liberals suffered what has come to be known as our largest defeat in the history of our great Party. Pundits and the media have tossed around ideas and thoughts about how and when the great fall occured. The reviews have been scathing.

I, like you, have been outraged, saddened, angered. Yet I stay determined to be a part of the future in rebuilding our great party. But this rebuilding comes at a cost dear friends. That cost is called democracy. Democracy within our own party.

No longer can we continue to have the few decide for the many. No longer can we have a single group skirt Rules and Regulations and Constitutions when it doesn't fit the agenda of those, the few.

Barely a week has gone by since the devastation and, in a closed conference call, on Monday May 9, 2011, the National Executive of the Liberal Party of Canada decided that is was once again time to circumvent the Constitution of the Liberal Party of Canada.

How do we, as grassroots members, begin to rebuild a Party when we commence the rebuilding by breaking the words and spirit behind the very Constitution that was put in place to guide us through these challenging times? How do we rebuild when the few have made the decision for the many? How can we hold others in Contempt of Parliament if we begin our re-emergence by having contempt for ourselves?

We cannot ask people to join us in our cause if we continue this neverending "skirting of the rules".

My friends, I am asking you to vote against the Constitutional Amendments being brought forward by the brass in a "Special Vote" on June 12th, 2011. Vote FOR our own Constitution that was duly debated when it was written. Vote for the grassroots to be heard for a change.

Liberally yours,


James C. Curran
No Title, Just another Liberal Member

BACKGROUNDER


This is the Current Contitutional Section Under Attack

PART 4 – ELECTIONS AND CONVENTIONS
CHAPTER 14 – LEADERSHIP VOTE
53 Purpose
Whenever a Leader is to be chosen for the Party, the Party must elect a new Leader
according to the procedures set out in this Chapter (which is referred to in this Constitution
as a “Leadership Vote”).
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
32 See Section 64 on the Leadership Endorsement Ballot.
41
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


This is How The Brass Think They can Break the Constitution

Susan Delacourt
Ottawa Bureau
Related
Who will be the next Liberal leader?
OTTAWA—Federal Liberals are ready to take the go-slow route to replace departing leader Michael Ignatieff — and they’ve found a way to get around their own rules to do it.

“We have been overwhelmed by input from the grassroots of the party, virtually universal, saying that a quick leadership is not what we need to do,” Liberal party president Alf Apps said on Monday.

The Liberals’ national board also has drawn up conditions for choosing an interim leader that appear to rule out Bob Rae for the post if the former Ontario premier and Toronto Centre MP is interested in seeking the leader’s job on a permanent basis.

An interim leader is expected to be named by the Liberals’ national board on May 19.

Ignatieff announced after last week’s thumping election defeat that he was leaving the leader’s job — plunging the Liberals into their fourth leadership contest in under a decade.

Though the new Conservative majority government gives the Liberals four years before they have to put another leader into an election contest, the party’s own constitution, as amended just two years ago, forces a much quicker race on the party.

In fact, if the party followed its own rules, Ignatieff would have to be replaced with a leadership vote by around the end of October.

But according to a draft document circulating among Liberal officials on Monday and seen by the Star, the party wants to convene a special general convention on June 12 to amend the Liberal constitution.

It would be a “virtual” convention, held over the Internet, with Liberals casting electronic ballots to change the leadership-succession rules and push the choice of a leader further into the future. This will allow the Liberals the extra time Apps says all members want, given their new third-place standing in the Commons, with just 34 MPs.

The Liberals’ national board was set to meet Monday night via teleconference call to sort out the leadership vacuum now confronting the party. It’s the board’s responsibility to ease the two biggest headaches facing the beleaguered Liberals at the moment: choosing an interim leader as well as figuring out the date for a vote on the permanent leader.

The issue of an interim leader will be high on the agenda of a special caucus meeting on Wednesday, too, for the MPs of the past Parliament — most of them defeated in last week’s election.

The board’s draft document says any MP who wants to serve as interim leader will have to obtain a majority of support from the new, 34-member caucus, but also provide written assurance of three conditions, which include:

• A promise not to seek the permanent leadership of the party.

• No discussions or negotiations about merger of the Liberals with the New Democrats, or, as the document puts it, anything that “would require any fundamental or material change to the nature or structure of the party.”

• Bilingualism is not mandatory for an interim leader, but any candidate who doesn’t speak both languages would also have to have a running mate of sorts, “a native francophone member of the caucus” who would serve as interim deputy leader.

Rae has been rumoured as the strongest candidate for interim leader, but there have been suggestions that he hold out hope for the permanent post, too. These conditions force Rae to choose, and also appear to be a mild rebuke for his public talk of merger last week in the immediate aftermath of the election.

According to the document sent to the board Monday night, Liberals found a loophole in the constitution allowing them to escape an early vote. The national board will go ahead and set a leadership vote for Oct. 19 as required but then convene the special “virtual” convention on June 12 to change the six-month limit in the constitution. The board envisions that a leadership vote can then be set sometime roughly a year from now.