Out-of-riding delegates edge out local delegates at Ontario Liberal Leadership convention
On February 8, 2020, I attended the Lion’s Hall in the village of Townsend to vote to select delegates who will represent the rural southwestern Ontario riding of Haldimand-Norfolk in which I reside at the Ontario Liberal Leadership Convention this weekend.
When I received my ballot it was a surprised/not surprised moment.
For those who do not know, the ballot has two parts. The first part presents the names of the six leadership candidates plus a seventh “independent” category. You vote your preference on the first part of the ballot.
The second part of the ballot presents slates of delegate candidates grouped around each of the six leadership candidates plus the independent category or seven in total. There were 16 delegate spots to be filled. They are selected on the basis of the number of votes each candidate receives on the first part of the ballot. The exact same process happened in each of Ontario’s 124 ridings.
The Steve Del Duca campaign presented a slate of 18 potential delegates for the 16 available spots. Mitzie Hunter had three potential delegates. Michael Coteau and Kate Graham each had two potential delegates. There were five people running as independent delegates. Brenda Hollingsworth and Alvin Tedjo did not have any delegates on the local ballot.
By presenting more than 16 potential delegates it means the Del Duca campaign had a full roster of potential to choose from. Conversely, the other candidates, no matter how popular they may be, could only at best elect the number of delegates running for them. Brenda Hollingsworth and Alvin Tedjo could not send any delegates from our riding because they did not have anyone running for them.
So, this is the not surprising part. The ballot I was presented with presented a rough and ready snapshot of the organizational strength of the each of the candidates.
The surprising part was when I looked at the names of the delegates. Almost all of Del Duca’s 18 potential delegates were not local people. How do I know this? Well, we have a small riding association with about 50 members. As an active Liberal, I have over the years gotten to know most of our members. The Del Duca slate had only one name I recognized.
When the votes were counted, I learned later that in fact the Del Duca campaign elected six of the 16 delegate positions, more than any other candidate. The roster of six included the local Liberal, whom I know to be a wonderful person and very active Liberal volunteer. The remainder however are people from outside the riding, and indeed may have never even visited there or, for that matter, even be able to locate it on a map.
It is important to note that while people outside the riding could run as delegates, only people residing in the riding could vote. Still, local Liberals who are the lifeblood of the local riding association found themselves competing for delegate spots against outside people they have never seen before.
What’s wrong with that? Isn’t that the whole point of selecting delegates for the March 7 leadership convention? To get more delegates than the next guy?
Well, it means the Del Duca campaign could not muster enough local people to fill the slate and so resorted to parachute delegates. But the truth is, the rules allowed this to happen and other candidates would likely have mustered more delegates if they were organizationally stronger.
However, it creates an unfair situation. Our local people are assuming the expense of travelling to Mississauga, where the convention is located, and renting a hotel room as well as paying the delegate fee. A considerable financial commitment. The Del Duca delegates representing our rural riding who live in Toronto or Mississauga or Brampton or Vaughan need only drive to the convention for the day to vote.
Some might wonder that the Del Duca campaign did not elect even more than the six. I attribute that to the fact that our local people all voted for each other, regardless of who they were supporting. I am kind of proud of our people for doing that.
In June 2019 at which 57 per cent of the people attending voted to end delegated conventions. But that was short of the two-thirds necessary to make the change to one-member, one vote. I was at this convention and what I heard in the hallways was that people from outside Toronto - the rest of Ontario - wanted to retain delegated conventions because they were afraid of being swamped by Liberal voters from the GTA. Well, the delegated convention prevailed but local people were still swamped out of the process.
In my riding, a retired nurse who is an active Liberal volunteer and even served as Liberal association president, was on the ballot to become a delegate but was swamped by out-of-riding people. That is pretty unfortunate because she is a wonderful person and devoted Liberal who deserved a say in who the next leader will be and we will certainly need her help in the next election. The out-of-riding delegates will not do us much good at election time.
It would be one thing to fill vacant delegate spots with out-of-riding delegates but it is another thing entirely to block devoted local volunteers from having a say in selecting the next leader.
The bottom line is, swamping a rural riding with delegates from the GTA is no way to renew the party in the rest of Ontario.