When Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne first released her hit song “Complicated,” one could be forgiven for thinking it dealt with her native country’s political system. After all, the method of selecting leaders employed by many political parties in Canada is not just confusing, it’s also not very democratic. As Canadians watch Americans struggle to select major party nominees they may poke fun at what seems like a silly way of picking the next leader of the free world. Indeed, the American race is driven by money, media attention and the abstract concept of who may have momentum.
But in Canada our way of selecting party leaders is far from perfect.
The Liberal Party, for one, is the last major federal party that holds a delegated convention to select its leader. While such a process attracts a bonanza of media attention, it also makes it difficult for grassroots supporters to attend and vote. Stories were abound in the days leading up to the leadership convention in December 2006 about delegates from the West Coast who could not afford the estimated $2,000 price tag of attending the Montreal convention.
Not only is the delegated convention expensive, but it also distracts from the debate on the important issues facing the nation. Instead of discussing platform points, delegates become bogged down speculating on who will win the race. As a result, policy sessions at such conventions are usually sparsely attended.
Meanwhile, desperate candidates are tempted to do whatever is necessary to get more bodies in the building come vote night. Most famously, Liberal hopeful Joe Volpe’s campaign was exposed as having signed up children and dead people to memberships.
During the convention the party voted narrowly to keep the old-style convention system, opting to turn down the one-member, one-vote system.
The Conservative approach is better, but still flawed. When the old Progressive Conservative Party merged with the Canadian Alliance it was decided every riding in the country would get equal say in the leadership process. This led to a convoluted point system where each riding got the same number of points and then those points were divided among the candidates based on how party members in the riding voted. The system was designed to ensure the western core of the Alliance could not force-feed the old Tories with their chosen leader. The overriding result, however, is that the process gives a larger voice to a smaller group of party members.
The common denominator in most of these leadership selection processes is confusion. It is hard for the average Canadian to follow the system and as result they are turned off.
Choosing a leader is serious business and should not be a game. Sure, media coverage is important but if given a solid, democratic and issues-based campaign to talk about Canadians will respond.
A system where each member of a political party gets a vote for party leader is the most democratic way of picking leadership candidates.
One member, one vote is so simple it might just work.