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"The Local Bases of National Parties"
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Introduction
After almost four decades of Liberal representation by Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Herb Gray, the riding of Windsor West returned a New Democratic Party Member of Parliament to Ottawa in a by-election held on May 13, 2002. Gray’s resignation in January 2002 had opened up an attractive “safe seat” opportunity for Windsor’s Liberals, and two strong candidates emerged to fight for the party’s nomination. Windsor social services commissioner Dana Howe’s candidacy was supported by Windsor West Liberal Member of the Ontario legislature Sandra Pupatello and some members of the federal riding association executive. Despite this impressive backing, her competitor, Richard Pollock, eventually went on to win the nomination for the Liberals. Not being the first choice of the riding executive, Pollock’s honeymoon period as the new Liberal candidate was short-lived, and his by-election campaign got off to a very shaky start. Ten days into the campaign, Pollock’s organization had yet to receive any cash from the local riding association to pay for the establishment of a headquarters. Cash for this purpose ultimately had to come from the provincial office of the federal Liberals, and when it arrived it was paid directly to Pollock’s campaign rather than to the local Liberal association. Windsor West’s Liberal association’s lawn sign list wasn’t made available, and Pollock’s organization couldn’t even obtain the wooden stakes that Gray’s 2000 campaign had saved. In the end, stakes had to be borrowed from the party’s riding association in neighboring Windsor – St. Clair (Williamson, 2002: A1). Doubtless there were many reasons for Pollock’s defeat in the by-election, but the party infighting among local Liberals following his nomination could not have helped his cause.
Intra-party contests for a nomination are not always so destructive. In fact,
conventional wisdom suggests that contested nominations can produce positive spinoffs for many parties. Consider the experience of the Liberals in the riding of Etobicoke North in 1988. In 1979 and 1980, the riding had elected Liberal MP Roy MacLaren, but he was defeated in the Mulroney sweep of 1984. Offering again for the Liberals in 1988, MacLaren had to fight off stiff nomination challenges from Jasbir Singh Mangat andGurcharan Singh. In the course of the nomination campaigns, these challengers sold thousands of new memberships and mobilized many in the riding’s large Sikh community. By the time of the nomination meeting, the local Liberal association had more than 5,500 new members (Smith, 1988: A-8). MacLaren ultimately became the choice of the local party once again, and he went on to retake the seat for the Liberals. In this, he was doubtless buoyed by the financial resources made available from the sale of so many party memberships and from the political mobilization of the riding’s immigrant community.
These different experiences point to a basic question concerning the process
whereby federal parties choose their candidates in Canada. Whereas these parties are geared primarily to compete against other parties in the electoral process, in the course of nominating candidates for this purpose, for better or worse the local party organization opens itself up and thereby becomes vulnerable to competitive strains and fissures. As such, the ‘secret garden’ of the nomination process becomes an important locus of intra-
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Introduction
After almost four decades of Liberal representation by Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Herb
Gray, the riding of Windsor West returned a New Democratic Party Member of
Parliament to Ottawa in a by-election held on May 13, 2002. Gray’s resignation in
January 2002 had opened up an attractive “safe seat” opportunity for Windsor’s Liberals,
and two strong candidates emerged to fight for the party’s nomination. Windsor social
services commissioner Dana Howe’s candidacy was supported by Windsor West Liberal
Member of the Ontario legislature Sandra Pupatello and some members of the federal
riding association executive. Despite this impressive backing, her competitor, Richard
Pollock, eventually went on to win the nomination for the Liberals. Not being the first
choice of the riding executive, Pollock’s honeymoon period as the new Liberal candidate
was short-lived, and his by-election campaign got off to a very shaky start. Ten days into
the campaign, Pollock’s organization had yet to receive any cash from the local riding
association to pay for the establishment of a headquarters. Cash for this purpose
ultimately had to come from the provincial office of the federal Liberals, and when it
arrived it was paid directly to Pollock’s campaign rather than to the local Liberal
association. Windsor West’s Liberal association’s lawn sign list wasn’t made available,
and Pollock’s organization couldn’t even obtain the wooden stakes that Gray’s 2000
campaign had saved. In the end, stakes had to be borrowed from the party’s riding
association in neighboring Windsor – St. Clair (Williamson, 2002: A1). Doubtless there
were many reasons for Pollock’s defeat in the by-election, but the party infighting among
local Liberals following his nomination could not have helped his cause.
Intra-party contests for a nomination are not always so destructive. In fact,
conventional wisdom suggests that contested nominations can produce positive spinoffs
for many parties. Consider the experience of the Liberals in the riding of Etobicoke North
in 1988. In 1979 and 1980, the riding had elected Liberal MP Roy MacLaren, but he was
defeated in the Mulroney sweep of 1984. Offering again for the Liberals in 1988,
MacLaren had to fight off stiff nomination challenges from Jasbir Singh Mangat and
Gurcharan Singh. In the course of the nomination campaigns, these challengers sold
thousands of new memberships and mobilized many in the riding’s large Sikh
community. By the time of the nomination meeting, the local Liberal association had
more than 5,500 new members (Smith, 1988: A-8). MacLaren ultimately became the
choice of the local party once again, and he went on to retake the seat for the Liberals. In
this, he was doubtless buoyed by the financial resources made available from the sale of
so many party memberships and from the political mobilization of the riding’s immigrant
community.
These different experiences point to a basic question concerning the process
whereby federal parties choose their candidates in Canada. Whereas these parties are
geared primarily to compete against other parties in the electoral process, in the course of
nominating candidates for this purpose, for better or worse the local party organization
opens itself up and thereby becomes vulnerable to competitive strains and fissures. As
such, the ‘secret garden’ of the nomination process becomes an important locus of intra-
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