Ottawa

Primary problems

Former Liberal MP Maria Minna is circulating a letter outlining her concerns with the workings and ramifications of moving to a primary system to elect a party leader. She has nine points, but I’ll excerpt number eight here, which seems relevant both for the philosophical concern and the specific complaints.

The primary system would give the Liberal leader and his/her office more power over Caucus and the Party. As a recent Member of Parliament with almost 18 years of experience, I can say with first-hand knowledge, that, most of the time caucus is not considered or listened to by the leader and especially his office. There is very little accountability to caucus members. Especially during our years in opposition, we could have avoided a great deal of pain and losses if the leadership and their offices had listened and taken into consideration the expertise and advice of caucus members. Therefore, I am convinced that a Leader who is so broadly elected will feel even less accountable towards caucus let alone any accountability to the party at large.

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