本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛OTTAWA — The Liberal party has come up with a proposal to speed up its leadership contest and find a replacement for Stephane Dion next month -- in time for a crucial budget vote that could plunge the country into an election or see the Harper Conservatives replaced by a coalition government.
The proposal, which the Liberal party executive was poised to consider by conference call late Sunday, would give every party member a vote by a combination of phone and online ballots. The idea was being vigorously promoted by leadership contender Bob Rae.
However, frontrunner Michael Ignatieff's camp was arguing that the proposal would violate the party's constitution and that the May 2 vote to choose Dion's successor should go ahead as planned.
Liberals close to Dion expect him to resign at a Liberal caucus meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
If he does so, Steven MacKinnon, Ignatieff's national campaign director, said the party constitution provides only one method for choosing an interim leader -- a decision by the national executive, in consultation with the Liberal parliamentary caucus.
"The party's process for selecting a leader is prescribed by the constitution and, while we are interested in any suggestions the party may have for how to shorten that process, it is clear the constitution must be respected," MacKinnon said in an interview.
There was also speculation that New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, the third candidate in the leadership race, could pull out Monday. But a source close to LeBlanc said no decision has been made "at this time."
LeBlanc's decision could hinge on the precise procedure adopted to choose a new leader. LeBlanc has little support within the parliamentary caucus and, like Rae, favours a wider ballot to fill the post should Dion leave early.
Insiders in rival camps said Ignatieff and his supporters were lobbying hard to have Ignatieff chosen as interim leader by a vote of Liberal MPs and senators at the caucus meeting Wednesday -- with the decision to be ratified formally at the May convention.
MacKinnon denied that but ohter sources said Ignatieff was personally calling MPs to urge that caucus settle the matter.
A caucus vote would give Ignatieff a decided edge. Indeed, rival camps said some Ignatieff supporters were arguing that the matter should be settled strictly by the 77 elected Liberal MPs, which would likely guarantee an Ignatieff victory.
Ignatieff is believed to have the support of at least 50 MPs -- although rivals insist the number is closer to 30 -- and about 10 of 58 Liberal senators. Rae is believed to have stronger support among senators.
Caucus support has been shifting somewhat since last week, as Liberals fracture over whether to pursue the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP, propped up by the Bloc Quebecois. Rae has emerged as the champion of the coalition idea while Ignatieff has been decidedly cool to the notion.
On Sunday, Ignatieff insiders accused Rae of advocating an unconstitutional process in a desperate bid to find some way of overtaking the frontrunner.
"Bob Rae is trying to find any formula that avoids us winning, even if it's unconstitutional," said one member of the Ignatieff camp.
In an interview Sunday afternoon, Rae said a consensus has emerged that the party must quickly find a permanent replacement for Dion before Parliament returns and is presented with a budget on Jan. 27. He said the party has an "obligation to provide the greatest stability going forward" into the new year.
But he said allowing caucus alone to decide the leadership would be elitist, undemocratic and illegitimate.
"One suggestion that I've heard -- that the caucus or even just MPs, for which there's no constitutional basis, but just MPs would decide -- is to me unacceptable and just plain wrong," Rae said.
"People have to understand there has to be a process and it has to be seen to be a democratic and legitimate one."
Rae said a vote by caucus alone would disenfranchise Liberals in the 231 ridings not represented by a Liberal MP.
"The people have to be heard," he said. "At a time of party renewal, it's inconceivable to me that people would be even contemplating the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Liberals."
Rae said the party has developed an "innovative solution" that is "both technically and technologically" possible to implement. He said it should be adopted.
"It is possible to have a much, much broader consultation with the membership than simply having people decide behind closed doors."
A top insider with LeBlanc's leadership campaign said the New Brunswick MP agrees that "there is an urgent need to expedite" the leadership contest and have a permanent new leader in place "to steer us through the turbulent waters of January."
"A democratic consultation within the party must be conducted but surely that can be done soon," the LeBlanc insider said.
Sources say the proposal to accelerate the leadership vote is based on the party's constitutional provisions for reviewing a leader's performance.
Every member would get a vote in their ridings, with all 308 ridings given equal weight.
Earlier Sunday, Ignatieff publicly agreed that the party needs to quickly find a permanent replacement for Dion.
"I think that Mr. Dion has to consider his options," he told CTV's Question Period.
"There's an emerging feeling in the caucus that, given the importance of this (budget) vote in late January, it would be appropriate to have a permanent leader in place . . . . The caucus is considering various options about how to do that."
Former cabinet minister John Manley suggested, in an opinion piece published Saturday, that the party executive and parliamentary caucus should choose at least an interim leader as soon as possible.
Although Dion negotiated the power-sharing deal with the NDP and the Bloc that brought the Harper government to the brink of a non-confidence vote, the prime minister dodged the bullet by persuading the Governor General last week to let him suspend Parliament for seven weeks.
He has also mounted a massive public relations campaign, including anti-Dion television and radio ads, contending that a leader whose party captured just 25 per cent of the vote in the Oct. 14 election doesn't have a legitimate mandate to govern.
Many Liberals acknowledge privately that Dion's continued presence as the public face of the party has complicated efforts to sell the idea of an alternative coalition government.
They point, as an example, to the embarrassing communications snafu last week in which Dion's team was an hour late delivering a videotape to broadcast outlets offering the Liberal response to a televised address by Harper.
Manley gave voice to what some other Liberals had been thinking when he wrote "the notion that the public would accept Stephane Dion as prime minister, after having resoundingly rejected that possibility a few weeks earlier, was delusional at best."
He also declared that what's needed is a leader "whose first job is to rebuild the Liberal party rather than leading a coalition with the NDP."
Dion continued to promote the coalition at a rally Saturday in Toronto where he shared the stage with NDP Leader Jack Layton, while Rae attended a similar rally in Winnipeg.
Ignatieff has been more ambivalent, describing his position Sunday as "coalition if necessary, but not necessarily coalition."
He said the power-sharing deal is serving a useful purpose by keeping the pressure on Harper in advance of the budget promised for January.
But he also said the Liberals have to be prepared to look at the budget before making any final decisions.
There was no comment from Layton and the NDP on the latest turn of events among their erstwhile partners in Liberal ranks.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
The proposal, which the Liberal party executive was poised to consider by conference call late Sunday, would give every party member a vote by a combination of phone and online ballots. The idea was being vigorously promoted by leadership contender Bob Rae.
However, frontrunner Michael Ignatieff's camp was arguing that the proposal would violate the party's constitution and that the May 2 vote to choose Dion's successor should go ahead as planned.
Liberals close to Dion expect him to resign at a Liberal caucus meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
If he does so, Steven MacKinnon, Ignatieff's national campaign director, said the party constitution provides only one method for choosing an interim leader -- a decision by the national executive, in consultation with the Liberal parliamentary caucus.
"The party's process for selecting a leader is prescribed by the constitution and, while we are interested in any suggestions the party may have for how to shorten that process, it is clear the constitution must be respected," MacKinnon said in an interview.
There was also speculation that New Brunswick MP Dominic LeBlanc, the third candidate in the leadership race, could pull out Monday. But a source close to LeBlanc said no decision has been made "at this time."
LeBlanc's decision could hinge on the precise procedure adopted to choose a new leader. LeBlanc has little support within the parliamentary caucus and, like Rae, favours a wider ballot to fill the post should Dion leave early.
Insiders in rival camps said Ignatieff and his supporters were lobbying hard to have Ignatieff chosen as interim leader by a vote of Liberal MPs and senators at the caucus meeting Wednesday -- with the decision to be ratified formally at the May convention.
MacKinnon denied that but ohter sources said Ignatieff was personally calling MPs to urge that caucus settle the matter.
A caucus vote would give Ignatieff a decided edge. Indeed, rival camps said some Ignatieff supporters were arguing that the matter should be settled strictly by the 77 elected Liberal MPs, which would likely guarantee an Ignatieff victory.
Ignatieff is believed to have the support of at least 50 MPs -- although rivals insist the number is closer to 30 -- and about 10 of 58 Liberal senators. Rae is believed to have stronger support among senators.
Caucus support has been shifting somewhat since last week, as Liberals fracture over whether to pursue the idea of forming a coalition with the NDP, propped up by the Bloc Quebecois. Rae has emerged as the champion of the coalition idea while Ignatieff has been decidedly cool to the notion.
On Sunday, Ignatieff insiders accused Rae of advocating an unconstitutional process in a desperate bid to find some way of overtaking the frontrunner.
"Bob Rae is trying to find any formula that avoids us winning, even if it's unconstitutional," said one member of the Ignatieff camp.
In an interview Sunday afternoon, Rae said a consensus has emerged that the party must quickly find a permanent replacement for Dion before Parliament returns and is presented with a budget on Jan. 27. He said the party has an "obligation to provide the greatest stability going forward" into the new year.
But he said allowing caucus alone to decide the leadership would be elitist, undemocratic and illegitimate.
"One suggestion that I've heard -- that the caucus or even just MPs, for which there's no constitutional basis, but just MPs would decide -- is to me unacceptable and just plain wrong," Rae said.
"People have to understand there has to be a process and it has to be seen to be a democratic and legitimate one."
Rae said a vote by caucus alone would disenfranchise Liberals in the 231 ridings not represented by a Liberal MP.
"The people have to be heard," he said. "At a time of party renewal, it's inconceivable to me that people would be even contemplating the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Liberals."
Rae said the party has developed an "innovative solution" that is "both technically and technologically" possible to implement. He said it should be adopted.
"It is possible to have a much, much broader consultation with the membership than simply having people decide behind closed doors."
A top insider with LeBlanc's leadership campaign said the New Brunswick MP agrees that "there is an urgent need to expedite" the leadership contest and have a permanent new leader in place "to steer us through the turbulent waters of January."
"A democratic consultation within the party must be conducted but surely that can be done soon," the LeBlanc insider said.
Sources say the proposal to accelerate the leadership vote is based on the party's constitutional provisions for reviewing a leader's performance.
Every member would get a vote in their ridings, with all 308 ridings given equal weight.
Earlier Sunday, Ignatieff publicly agreed that the party needs to quickly find a permanent replacement for Dion.
"I think that Mr. Dion has to consider his options," he told CTV's Question Period.
"There's an emerging feeling in the caucus that, given the importance of this (budget) vote in late January, it would be appropriate to have a permanent leader in place . . . . The caucus is considering various options about how to do that."
Former cabinet minister John Manley suggested, in an opinion piece published Saturday, that the party executive and parliamentary caucus should choose at least an interim leader as soon as possible.
Although Dion negotiated the power-sharing deal with the NDP and the Bloc that brought the Harper government to the brink of a non-confidence vote, the prime minister dodged the bullet by persuading the Governor General last week to let him suspend Parliament for seven weeks.
He has also mounted a massive public relations campaign, including anti-Dion television and radio ads, contending that a leader whose party captured just 25 per cent of the vote in the Oct. 14 election doesn't have a legitimate mandate to govern.
Many Liberals acknowledge privately that Dion's continued presence as the public face of the party has complicated efforts to sell the idea of an alternative coalition government.
They point, as an example, to the embarrassing communications snafu last week in which Dion's team was an hour late delivering a videotape to broadcast outlets offering the Liberal response to a televised address by Harper.
Manley gave voice to what some other Liberals had been thinking when he wrote "the notion that the public would accept Stephane Dion as prime minister, after having resoundingly rejected that possibility a few weeks earlier, was delusional at best."
He also declared that what's needed is a leader "whose first job is to rebuild the Liberal party rather than leading a coalition with the NDP."
Dion continued to promote the coalition at a rally Saturday in Toronto where he shared the stage with NDP Leader Jack Layton, while Rae attended a similar rally in Winnipeg.
Ignatieff has been more ambivalent, describing his position Sunday as "coalition if necessary, but not necessarily coalition."
He said the power-sharing deal is serving a useful purpose by keeping the pressure on Harper in advance of the budget promised for January.
But he also said the Liberals have to be prepared to look at the budget before making any final decisions.
There was no comment from Layton and the NDP on the latest turn of events among their erstwhile partners in Liberal ranks.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net