Expect questions about what was accomplished after the warm and fuzzy feelings fade

The Liberal biennial convention came to an end today.

As mentioned previously, conventions are more than just politics and motions and internal political races, they are about reconnecting with other party members and celebrating your party and who you are. On those points this was a good convention for them. I think most delegates left with a good feeling, although I suspect over the next few weeks they might begin to wonder what they actually accomplished.

Did they come out with a renewed and vibrant party? Not from what I saw. Most of the policy options that were presented couldn’t have been all that new or interesting as on this final day of the convention the vast majority of the policy motions were passed with no interest in debate. Does this mean the party is of a single mind on all these different topics? I hardly think so, but it sure looked like it with most motions receiving overwhelming support without any discussion. Some of these included reinstating the Wheat Board and financially penalizing provinces that deny women access to abortion. Maybe the lack of interest reflected the fact that a lot of the motions were pretty bland, with some of them regurgitated from previous Liberal Red Books going all the way back to 1993. Wasn’t this convention supposed to be about renewal?

The delegates did show a bit of spirit when they lined up to debate legalizing pot (Yes, 77 per cent), severing ties with the monarchy (No, 67 per cent) and using a preferential ballot for Canadian elections (Yes, 73 per cent).

Another interesting point was the Liberals attempt to Americanize our politics. They had top Obama Democratic operatives teaching them how to win campaigns, plus motions to adopt U.S.-style primaries for leadership elections, plus a new supporter membership category based on Obama’s successful campaign for the U.S. presidency. Add in another motion that would have created a republic after severing ties with the queen and if all had passed we would have seen the greatest Americanization of Canadian politics in memory. And this is the party that always accused the Conservatives of using U.S.-style politics. I can almost write the Conservative attack ads on this one. With this attempt to Americanize us I am surprised they didn’t include a motion to make us the 51st state!

Fortunately for the Liberals the motion for primaries and severing ties with the queen were defeated. But they did create a new supporter membership category. I think this will create a few headaches for them down the road as these new supporters can only vote to elect the next Liberal leader, they cannot vote in nomination meetings. But the delegates also defeated the primary system, how do you now incorporate these new supporters into a leadership campaign? Can they attend a leadership convention as primaries won’t be held? Will the party be forced to set up regional voting sessions? What will be the cost to do all of this, keeping in mind that these new supporters don’t pay a membership fee?

Throughout the convention there was an anger simmering below the surface that was aimed at party insiders and the old guard for leading them to third-party status. The one place it showed was in the election of a new party president. It was considered Copps’ to lose, yet when the votes were counted Mike Crawley defeated Sheila Copps, who most felt represented the old guard and the old way of doing things in the Liberal Party. Initial indications are that this was a very tight vote with three recounts. This was probably a good move for a party that is trying to reinvent itself, but this alone will not be enough to change the party. The new president will have to deal with a divided party plus the leader and the caucus who I doubt will want to give up any of their rights or privileges.

In conclusion, the party put on a decent show, delegates enjoyed themselves and went home with a warm and fuzzy feeling, but the party didn’t reinvent itself and that was the purpose of this convention.

This was my last blog on the Liberal convention on behalf of ipolitics.ca. I hope that you will go to their site for full convention coverage.