Trudeau’s new Liberals: Everyone could join

Justin Trudeau is pushing a proposed new constitution for the Liberal Party of Canada aimed at transforming the federal party from an exclusive club into a wideopen political movement.

The proposal, adopted Saturday by the party’s national board during a three-hour meeting with the prime minister in Halifax, would do away entirely with the long-held principle that only dues-paying, card-carrying members are entitled to take part in party activities.

Indeed, there would no longer be any party members.

Instead, anyone willing to register with the party — for free —.

People would be eligible to participate in policy development, nomination of candidates, party conventions and the selection of future leaders.

The proposal builds on a change adopted by Liberals four years ago, when they agreed to let anyone willing to sign up for free as a party supporter, vote in leadership contests.

Trudeau was the first leader elected under the new process, which saw some 300,000 people sign up as supporters.

“We’ve tried the supporter system and it was a huge success,” party president Anna Gainey said in an interview.

“I believe that as we continue to open up and modernize and have more of a movement than a traditional political party, that this is a natural progression of that.”

Without going into details of the proposed changes, Trudeau championed the need for his party’s overhaul.

“Canadians are counting on us to keep building, modernizing and opening up our movement. We can’t let them down.”