Follow CPAC and cpac.ca for full coverage as the Liberal Party of Canada chooses a permanent leader in April.
Candidates * Debates * Members/Supporters * Voting * Rules * NDP Repeat? * Background
The Candidates
Here are the registered candidates:
- David Bertschi
- Martin Cauchon
- Deborah Coyne
- Marc Garneau
- Martha Hall Findlay
- Karen McCrimmon
- Joyce Murray
- George Takach
- Justin Trudeau
The Debates
Feb. 16 - Mississauga
March 23 - Halifax
Members and Supporters
The biggest change compared to past leadership conventions is who can actually vote.
Liberals once chose their leader with delegates selected to represent their local associations, in addition to "ex officio" voters such as MPs, senators, and other party officials.
Party members agreed to move to a "one member, one vote" system in 2009, ending the practice of delegated conventions. And last year they opted to allow "supporters" to join paid members in selecting the leader.
Supporters must be 18 and pledge to support Liberal principles and not belong to another party.
Candidates can talk to supporters without sharing names until March 3, the last day to sign up and still be eligible to vote.
Steps will be taken to verify supporter identities, but the Liberal party must take people at their word about not belonging to other parties, according to Ian McKay, the party's national director.
About 100,000 are currently eligible to vote as of Jan. 16, McKay said. It's a near 50-50 split between members and supporters.
McKay added the new supporter category hasn't hurt the number of paid Liberal members.
A plan to hold a series of staggered primaries across Canada resembling a U.S. presidential nomination failed at the 2012 convention.
The Voting
Voter registration begins next week and runs until March 14. The list is then handed to Dominion Voting Systems, the company contracted to oversee the electronic voting process.
A candidate showcase is scheduled for Saturday, April 6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Voting is expected to begin the following day and continue to Sunday, April 14. Party president Mike Crawley announces the winner later that day at the Westin Ottawa hotel.
Liberal members and supporters will vote online or by telephone using a personalized password, according to national director Ian McKay.
Voters will use a preferential ballot. One hundred points are assigned to each riding for equal weight. The points are given to the candidates based on the ratio of votes in each riding, and than added together for a national total.
The last-place finisher on each ballot will be eliminated and their votes redistributed to their supporters' next choice.
The results will be digitally tabulated. The system recalculates the result for each ballot until the winner reaches the 50 per cent-plus-one threshold.
The Rules
Candidates had to be Liberal party members, eligible to serve in the House of Commons, and deliver a written nomination with 300 member signatures from at least three provinces or territories. They also had to pay a non-refundable $75,000 entrance fee.
The party has set a spending limit of $950,000, a campaign loan limit of $75,000, and a $25,000 liability limit.
A repeat possibility of 2012?
Last year's NDP leadership convention saw major delays after a "distributed denial of service" attack overwhelmed the voting system and shut out legitimate party members.
A network of more than 10,000 computers, mostly within Canada, generated hundreds of thousands of false access requests, throttling the voting process during the final three ballots.
Scytl Canada, the company responsible for the voting technology, called the attack a "malicious, massive, orchestrated attempt to thwart democracy," but added the vote itself was legitimate and verified by outside auditors.
McKay was asked whether the Liberals are prepared for a similar situation. He said the Liberal vote will be spread over one week, compared to just one day for those New Democrats voting in real time in 2012.
"We took no comfort in watching what was happening during (the NDP) vote," McKay told reporters at a Jan. 16 briefing at party headquarters in Ottawa.
The Background
Bob Rae defeated Marc Garneau to become interim leader in May 2011 following the party's third-place election finish and Michael Ignatieff's resignation. Party members chose to delay a full leadership vote until spring 2013.
Rae decided against a run for the permanent leadership in June 2012, saying it was the best way for him to serve the party. Health and age were not factors, the now-64-year-old said.
Rae's status was closely followed, since the party had decreed that any candidates for interim leader promise to not run for the permanent job.
-Andrew Thomson
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