Party of Principle

While Peter C. Newman has been getting headlines with his diagnosis that the Liberal Party is dead, Andrew Coyne offers his recipe for resurrection here.

While I generally agree with Coyne's article, like Far and Wide, I would quibble that his criticism of the roadmap to renewal is unfair ("do you think it is easy to make a roadmap!?"). After all, opening the party to all Canadians is the first step towards the type of "grassroots, democratic party" Coyne urges the Liberals to become. And regardless of what the Liberal Party becomes, it's going to have to organize, fundraise, and communicate better.

That said, I agree with Coyne's thesis that the Liberals will not vault from third to first by defining themselves as nothing more than a "party of the centre". Instead they need to be seen as a "party of principle", taking bold and risky stances - sometimes zigging right and sometimes zagging left. As the Tories and NDP attempt the squeeze the Grits out of the centre and out of existence, it will become harder and harder to find differentiating positions. It's not simply enough to say "we're not Stephen Harper", because the NDP also happens to be "not Stephen Harper".

If life were like the West Wing, it would be enough for the Liberals to boldly declare themselves as the party of principle and, presto, they'd be back on top by sweeps month. Reality is a bit trickier. Principled positions aren't always popular and bold ideas aren't always practical. It's also not like there's an abundance of bold ideas laying around, though Coyne suggests a way to find them:

The answer will lie as much in the way the party develops policies as in the policies it ultimately adopts. On both scores, it will need to capitalize on its own misfortune—to seize the opportunity that defeat affords. Parties that are in close contention for power tend to have little room for dissent, or for that matter democracy. The Liberals, being nowhere near power, have an opportunity to build a truly grassroots, democratic party, one that holds its leaders closely to account, and to let its own example serve as a model of democratic reform for the country.

Bingo. The currently policy process of the Liberal Party is a joke. Policies are debated at convention every two years, prioritized, and forgotten. The top policies rarely find their way into the platform, and I'd be surprised if they're even read by the leader or the platform committee.

The candidates for LPC President and Policy Chair have all talked about making the policy process ongoing and more engaging, but that won't make a difference unless it becomes meaningful.

One solution to this would be to force the party to adopt prioritized policies in its platform. The Alberta Liberals recently passed a bylaw mandating that 2 of the top 3 policies passed at convention find their way to the platform, while the Canmore Renewal Document suggests 5 of 10. Whatever the number, it would make the policy process at convention worth the price of admission, rather than a prime time to visit the hotel bar.

A system like that would not only engage members, it would force the party to take a serious look at the principled and bold ideas they need to take a serious look at.

A Roadmap to Renewal

The Liberal Roadmap to Renewal has been released and can be read here. There are several longer drafts floating around I've put on my weekend reading list, but at 80-100 pages, I may just wait for the movie version.

While the process feels a little too top-down for my liking, we've been talking about renewal for years so I'm glad something is being done and that members have concrete proposals before them to debate and vote on at January's Biennial convention.

As for the proposals themselves, some are unnecessary, some are flowery, and some skate around the real issues. Why we need to affirm the policy process is beyond me - I'd much rather see it reformed and made meaningful.

At the same time, there is some real meat in this document. The most visible and flashiest change would be moving leadership and nomination races to the primary-style system I blogged about earlier this week. This, coupled with the end of protected nominations for incumbents and the end of leader's ability to appoint candidates would be a significant leap towards creating a more open and grassroots party.

I won't go into detail on some of the bookkeeping changes being discussed, because if I do you'll never visit this blog again. It's not exciting stuff, but I will say that the move towards streamlining and centralizing accounting, fundraising, and operations will save money. And raise money too, come to think of it.

Fundraising to defend the new leader and buy more technology doesn't require constitutional amendments, but those are worthy initiatives I'd be willing to open my chequebook for. The party needs to adopt a culture of data collection, so good on them for moving into the 21st Century.

The document is rather quiet on what must be done to engage existing members, but those kind of initiatives don't require constitutional change - just a willingness by people in positions of power to make things happen.

Liberal Renewal

There was a lot of ink spilled about Liberal rebuilding in the wake of the May 2nd shellacking - both among pundits and party members. Although much of that talk has cooled, with January's biennial convention approaching, it's likely time to renew the renewal discussion.

What I like about the renewal discussion so far is that it has happened organically, from all corners of the party. There has been talk about the road ahead at riding association meetings, in Facebook groups, and on blogs. One of these ad hoc renewal groups I've been involved with started up in May with a flurry of "reply all" e-mails among 20 or 30 passionate Liberals. After sharing our rants and ideas, we decided to hold a face-to-face meeting in the heart of Liberal Country - Canmore, Alberta.

So on the August long weekend, an eclectic group of Liberals met to talk about the future of our party - we had grey haired PMO staffers (from a time when there was a Liberal PMO), organizers from the west coast, party officials from Quebec, and new Liberals from out east. Many of us had never met in person before, so it was a great opportunity to throw a mix of perspectives and personalities into the blender.

We gave presentations and shared ideas. There wasn't always consensus - we remained divided on the merits of a primary system during both sober and not-so-sober debates. In the end, we were able to agree on a list of over 30 concrete proposals.

I've included a few of the recommendations below as a sample - if you're interested in reading the executive summary and all proposals, just drop me an e-mail:


Party & Caucus
• Create a mentorship program to develop leadership skills within the Party
• Develop an on-line national schedule of yearly events, anniversaries, etc and populate with events of national, provincial and local significance in collaboration with PTAs and EDAs
• MPs and Senators increase communication across the country as part of a comprehensive and consistent plan that can be aligned with micro-targeting data, Liberal List and critic responsibilities

Organization
• Establish quality templates for every aspect of campaigning - from fundraising scripts to campaign plans
• Outline rights/responsibilities of candidates and party officials - develop a training program to communicate them
• Green light candidates once they decide to stand as a candidate
• Consider holding all nominations in Q3 2014 with set membership submission deadlines

Policy
• Half the LPC priority resolutions passed at national Convention must be in the National Platform
• Include a section on each province/territory in campaign platform to put national themes in regional context
• Engage third-party stakeholders in the policy process and undertake appropriate follow-up
• Caucus critics should organize network events with stakeholders on selected policy issues across the country as part of their critic responsibilities

Administration & Fundraising
• Develop a culture of data collection at every level utilizing as many sources as possible
• Implement a comprehensive training regime for data managers and campaign managers
• Develop a fundraising vehicle to recognize contributions of $2200 (National/EDA) and consider raising Laurier Club contribution amount to $1500 within a combined contribution
• Leader and Caucus members should call Laurier Club and Victory Fund members
• Do not restrict party field workers to major urban centres

"We have to be a national party"

As I mentioned earlier, Mark Holland gave a real barn burner at the ALP convention the weekend before last.

What made it such a great speech was that he avoided the usual cliches you get from federal politicians when they come to Calgary - "Alberta Liberals are the best Liberals! Stephen Harper is awful! Go local sports team!". Rather, Holland captured the mood of the room, and made a compelling case about the challenges facing the party nationally. If you'd taken a vote for party president in the room afterwards, it would have been a landslide.

The complete speech can be viewed bellow, but I want to draw your attention to a key section:

Politics Reimagined: Mark Holland from Corey Hogan on Vimeo.

"What we saw in Alberta, we wrote off as an aberration, rather than looking at it as a harbinger of what was to come. Rather than looking at it as a sign that we had to change our politics, we retreated and gave them safe harbour. We allowed them to not worry about it - we have Conservative MPs who don't even go to their own ridings because they don't figure they have to. And as we retreated from Alberta, we retreated from Quebec. And as we retreated from Quebec, we retreated from rural Canada. And as we retreated from rural Canada, we found the Conservatives focusing all their energies on our remaining seats as we tried desperately to protect them.

We have to be a national party. We have to recognize that if we're not successful in places like Calgary and Edmonton, we won't be successful at all."


I know in the post-subsidy world, there's less incentive to be competitive in all parts of the country. And like Mark said in his speech, there's a huge temptation for the "quick fix", or to only focus on winning back seats like his in the 905.

But as I've argued before, there's no reason the Liberal Party can't be competitive in at least 7 or 8 Calgary and Edmonton ridings. It's not necessarily about winning those seats in 2015 - it's about laying the groundwork so that a strong national campaign will turn them red. It's what the NDP did to go from third-to-first in Edmonton Strathcona, and it's what they're in the process of doing in Edmonton East and Edmonton Centre.

So what does a 308 riding strategy look like?

There are a lot of things that could be a part of it. Some ideas I've heard:

1. Nominate candidates early. Avoid the temptation for "star" candidates. Instead, find people involved in the community, with a team of hard working volunteers, who are willing to door knock the riding over and over again for the next eight years.

2. Send the leader and MPs there. Obviously enough, the Liberal leader isn't going to spend the entire election in Alberta, but there's no reason Liberal MPs can't put the time in between campaigns. Be sure to hold Town Halls and talk to the local papers when they're there.

3. Engage the existing members. Even if it's just a case of the party's Natural Resources Critic calling the Fort McMurray membership list and asking them what they think about a contentious oilsands issue, at least they'll feel listened to and like an important part of the big red machine.

4. It's important to make sure all ridings are at a minimum level to function properly. The Change Commission made a lot of recommendations to this end (most of which were ignored), including the hiring of field workers, and providing weaker ridings with the resources they need in the form of handbooks, website templates, new member welcome packages, and election readiness kits.

5. Create a "deal" of sorts with the ridings, where the party provides resources in exchange for certain targets being met. One example I heard recently was that the LPC would offer to ID voters via a demon dial of the riding, so long as local Liberals followed up with identified Liberals and invited them out to local events (ideally, something simple like a Liberal BBQ with a federal MP).

There are many other things the party could do as part of a 308-riding strategy. At the top of the list is writing up a clear plan with timelines and targets - and making sure it is actually implemented.

As Mark Holland said in his speech, there's no easy road back or short cut. It's going to take a lot of work.

Renewal

There has been a lot of talk about Liberal Party renewal since election night. Which is encouraging - after a punch to gut like that, it's easy to give up, but it sounds like there's a real appetite out there to change the party for the better.

Bellow is a sample of posts and article - by all means if you've seen any others, e-mail me and I'll update the list. I don't necessarily agree with all the ideas being floated, but at this point everything should be debated.

• Monty Karl calls for the creation of non-commissioned organizations, the same way Students Unions sanction clubs


• Andrew Steele on Liberal myths that must be abandoned


• Corey Hogan on declining Liberal fortunes in Alberta, the New Liberal initiative, the electronic convention proxy, and a bunch of other nifty ideas


• Ryan Davey on the challenges facing the Liberal Party


• Rob Silver on the future of the Liberal Party, open primaries, ending supply management, and the need for a Liberal think tank


• Kyle Olsen talks about how we elect party officials


• Jeff Jedras on reforming the LPC structure (also here) and the Liberal vision


• Brian Rice on silos


• Tilting at Windmills on the road ahead


• Calgary Liberal gives an ice cube analogy


• Glen Pearson offers a policy map for the Liberal Party


• Calgary Grit on where we go from here



• Jeffrey Simpson on valuing losing candidates


• John Manley on axing the commissions


• John Ibbitson on the merits of a primary-style leadership race


• Kelly McPharland offers a conservative perspective on what must be done

Also, thanks also to those who have e-mailed in their thoughts on what the Liberal Party needs to do. I'm keeping track of everything, and intend to explore some of the ideas being floated in a series of blog posts this summer.