Lorne Gunter: Liberals embrace democracy, then abandon it all in one breath

Lorne Gunter: Liberals embrace democracy, then abandon it all in one breath Posted: December 09, 2008, 6:00 PM by Kelly McParland    

When Dominic LeBlanc withdrew from the Liberal leadership race on Monday, he said it had been a privilege “running for the leadership of the greatest democratic institution in the Western world.” In keeping with the democratic principles he so admires, he then called on his party to short-circuit it’s own constitutional leadership selection process and anoint Michael Ignatieff forthwith.

When asked by reporters how he could reconcile his professed love of the democratic process with his desire to see Mr. Ignatieff in the leader’s office (and, presumably himself in a prominent front-bench role) without a vote by more than the 77 Liberal MPs and 58 Liberal senators, Mr. LeBlanc offered the heartfelt response of all great defenders of democracy: “The urgency of the situation requires extraordinary measures.”

Sorry? Is our country being invaded? The urgency of just what situation requires the suspension of rank-and-file Liberals’ right to choose their party’s boss?

Oh, right, I forgot: the urgent need to replace the Conservatives as government without an election; another time-honoured democratic tradition.

After Mr. Ignatieff was safely in office, then the Liberals should, according to Mr. LeBlanc, “create a mechanism for widespread democratic consultation” with the membership. You know, um, after the democratic process has been rendered redundant.

Wow, I’m sure grateful there are people with a deep understanding of democracy, such as Dominic LeBlanc, standing up in Parliament for our rights and institutions.

In short, Mr. LeBlanc’s commitment to democracy extends only so far as it doesn’t interfere with his preferred candidate’s ascension to the Liberal throne or the glorious restoration of the Liberal party to power in Ottawa.

Monday evening, the Liberal party executive backed away from Mr. Ignatieff’s preference to have the party’s next leader chosen this week by the 135-member caucus, alone. Instead, they postponed the selection until next week and expanded the voters’ list to include riding presidents, failed candidates from October’s election and presidents from the party’s women’s, youth, aboriginal and seniors’ clubs, some 800 in all.

In other words, instead of just having the party’s college of cardinals choose the next Liberal Pope this week, the party would open up the process to the Canadian equivalent of super-delegates -- voters who owe their access to a ballot to their membership in the party’s governing elite -- and hold off Mr. Ignatieff’s coronation until next week.

Hillary Clinton would love these guys. Had her Democrats had the same abiding faith in democracy, she could have convinced them to ignore the results of the primaries and let super-delegates alone select her as their nominee.

Of course, all this was pre-empted Tuesday when Mr. Ignatieff’s lone remaining rival, Bob Rae, backed out of the race rather than almost certainly lose the truncated, ex-officio-controlled version proposed by the hierarchy of “the greatest democratic institution in the Western world.”

So why were Mr. Ignatieff’s supporters adamant that he had to be installed before Christmas? And why were Mr. Rae’s people only asking for a postponement until the middle of next month? The Rae camp was every bit as adamant as the Igantieff camp that a new leader had to be in place before Parliament reconvenes in late January.

Why the haste? Because the Liberals have never quite given up on the notion they are Canada’s Divine Right to Govern party.

Most parties with just half as many votes as a government wouldn’t dream of trying to unseat it. Nor would they consider attempting to form government less than two months after receiving the lowest vote share in their history, without first going through another general election.

But most parties aren’t, in their own delusional estimation, “the greatest democratic institution in the Western world.”
Recapturing power now would do nothing to solve the Liberals’ core problems in fundraising, organizing and policy. Indeed, it might make their fundamental flaws worse by postponing their resolution.

But none of that matters as much to Canada’s Liberals as being back in power, back in control of public spending and patronage.

Thus the man they last week proposed to foist on Canada as an unelected prime minister — Stéphane Dion — they have this week tossed over the rail in favour of foisting Michael Igantieff on their membership.

Such are the heavy obligations that come with being such a magnificent democratic institution.
National Post
lgunter@shaw.ca