The Liberal Party of Canada, set to select a new leader using a new method to pick that person, should be able to challenge both for a majority government and for a seat locally, Liberals of the Edmonton-St. Albert constituency say.
The Liberals will select their third leader since former prime minister Paul Martin stepped down in 2006. The hands-down favourite to win the position is Justin Trudeau, son of enigmatic former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
Bob Russell, who has been a long-time supporter of the Liberal Party, said selecting the new leader has been a welcome experience.
“It’s certainly different than anything I’ve experienced,” Russell said.
This contest will be the first under the new rules for selecting a Liberal leader. In the past, constituency associations selected delegates to attend a national convention. The delegates were swapped as candidates bowed out until one had more than 50 per cent of the total delegates.
Now each member and supporter – people who vote without joining the actual party – will fill out a preferential ballot, ranking their desired candidates. Each constituency is allocated 100 points and candidates will be allocated those points based on how many are a first choice on the ballot. The first candidate to get a majority of those points wins.
“It allows the people of Canada to get involved with selecting the next leader,” said Russell, who is chair of the party’s standing committee on agriculture. “I had to do some thinking about it and yes, this does work.”
Ed Ramsden, president of the local constituency association, said the winner appears obvious but anything can happen in politics.
“It’s been pretty one-sided ever since Marc Garneau dropped out,” Ramsden said. “Justin Trudeau has carried a lot of momentum through the race. But there’s no such thing as a sure bet.”
National polls have shown a Liberal Party under Trudeau would defeat the Stephen Harper Conservatives to form the next government, but Ramsden was still wary.
“You can’t take too much comfort in those kinds of polls,” Ramsden said. He did, however, add that with Trudeau’s leadership, the party would certainly be able to launch a challenge to Conservative MP Brent Rathgeber in the next election.
He will have a better idea of the constituency’s total membership at the end of the month, but Ramsden said there’s a different feel to the Liberals in St. Albert now.
“There’s definitely more interest in the Liberal Party,” Ramsden said.
“Brent Rathgeber has been a great MP, but his party isn’t representative of what constituents want,” Ramsden said. “I think we can use this momentum and give Brent a run for his money.”
