Grits need ‘grassroots’

OTTAWA — Belinda Stronach’s surprise decision to leave the Liberal leadership race before even began should be a wakeup call to convention organizers. Her claim that current membership rules stack the deck against democracy should not go unheeded if the party is serious about rebuilding its base.

Stronach adds her significant voice to a long list of party members already on the record.

Former cabinet ministers like John Manley and Herb Dhaliwal, former MPs like Hec Cloutier, and former party hopefuls like British Columbia’s Tony Kuo have all spoken out publicly against the rules. Others, like Brian Tobin and Allan Rock, saw the writing on the wall and stepped away from a one-sided fight in the last race, in which I ended up the only contender against Paul Martin.

With so few candidates, the contest was all but bereft of ideas, with the restrictive rules creating an unstoppable steamroller effect for Martin, which ultimately stifled the grassroots.

http://torontosun.canoe.ca/News/Columnists/Copps_Sheila/2006/04/09/1526407.html