Liberals reverse nomination rules

OTTAWA • Liberal MPs won’t have to fight for the right to carry the ruling party’s banner in the next election — provided their riding war chest is at least half full and they’ve made concerted efforts to keep in contact with voters.

Under new rules unveiled at a Liberal caucus meeting Sunday, incumbents who meet those and several other conditions by Oct. 1 will be acclaimed as candidates for the 2019 election, without the bother of having to win open nomination contests.

The new rules represent an about-face for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who ended the party’s 20-year-old practice of protecting incumbents from nomination challenges when he took the helm in 2013. At the time, the Liberals had been reduced to thirdparty status with fewer than 35 seats in the House of Commons. Trudeau argued that forcing open nominations across the board, including for incumbent MPs, would help develop the ground organization the party needed to claw its way out of the political wilderness.

He pointed to his own tough nomination battle in Montreal’s Papineau riding in 2008 as proof. But that was then. Now, there are 183 Liberal MPs and they’ve been lobbying hard for a reprieve from nomination contests, arguing they shouldn’t have to waste time fighting off potential challengers while they’re supposed to be in Ottawa working on government business.

The party has done away with paid memberships and now allows anyone willing to register for free as a Liberal supporter to vote in nomination contests.

Among the conditions to be acclaimed, an MP and his or her riding team must have:

❚ Taken part in at least two “voter contact day of action” events in the previous 12 months.

❚ Knocked on at least 3,500 doors or made 5,000 phone calls.

❚ Stocked the riding war chest with money amounting to at least half of the riding’s anticipated election expenses limit for the 2019 election and provided a written plan for raising the other half.

❚ Signed up at least 30 new monthly donors, based on the number of such donors as of Jan. 1, 2016 or Jan. 1, 2018, whichever is less.

❚ Signatures of support from at least 150 registered Liberals in the riding.

In ridings where there is no sitting Liberal MP, the local Liberal association must document that it has conducted a thorough search for women candidates, have at least 15 per cent of the election expenses limit in its bank account, have at least 150 registered Liberals in the riding and have recruited at least 15 new monthly donors before the party will allow a nomination contest to be called.