Women in Politics @ Liberal Leadership Race, Canada

Liberal leadership candidate Karen McCrimmon waves to the crowd during the 2013 Liberal Leadership National Showcase in Toronto on Saturday, April 6, 2013. [READ MORE]

An election for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada was triggered by Michael Ignatieff’s announcement on May 3, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader following the party’s result in the 2011 federal election.

The party intends to announce its new leader on April 14, 2013, in Ottawa.

Ignatieff declared on May 3, 2011, that he intended to resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, but his statement was worded so as not to be an actual resignation to avoid immediately triggering a leadership vote under party rules; he tendered a letter of resignation to the party’s National Board of Directors on May 11. Under the provisions of the party’s constitution, the Board was required to set a date for a leadership vote to be held within five months thereafter.

However several MPs expressed their reluctance to hold a third leadership election in eight years and instead wanted to take the four years of electoral stability provided by a majority parliament as an opportunity to rebuild under an interim leader for as much as two years before selecting a permanent leader. The Board met as required on May 19 and set the election for October 28 and 29, 2011, but adopted a proposed constitutional amendment allowing this leadership election to be held between March 1 and June 30, 2013, with the exact date to be announced no sooner than five months in advance. The next convention of the party adopted the amendment on June 18, 2011.

On June 13, 2012, the Board decided to call the leadership vote for April 2013 with a specific date to be confirmed during the summer. The Board subsequently established April 14, 2013, as the date the leadership election winner is to be announced and November 14, 2012, as the official start of the race. It also set a spending limit of $950,000 and a debt limit of $75,000, both considerably lower figures than allowed in 2006.

2013

130,774 Liberal Party members and supporters have registered to vote in the election of almost 300,000 who were eligible. General voting will occur from April 7, to April 14, 2013 by preferential ballot online and by phone. Each electoral district is allocated 100 points with points in a district allocated in proportion to each candidate by the number of first preference votes received. All points are then aggregated nationally for a “national count“.

If no candidate receives 15,401 points on the first count, then the candidate with the least number of points is eliminated and his/her votes are distributed in each electoral district among the remaining leadership contestants according to the next preference indicated. This process continues until one candidate has more than 15,401 points.

Karen McCrimmon for CANADA !!! [ VIDEO ]

A BLAST FROM THE PAST …

CPAC’s Vote 2011 Special “Women and Canadian Politics” includes profiles of three women running in the 2011 election. This part profiles Karen McCrimmon, Liberal candidate for Carleton – Mississippi Mills (Ontario). (Reporter: Catherine Clark, CPAC, April 28, 2011)

Tribute to Bob Rae

Former prime minister Paul Martin kicked off Saturday’s showcase with a lengthy speech praising interim leader Bob Rae, who has held down the Liberal fort since the May 2011 federal election.

Martin said Rae will be remembered not as an interim leader but as “one of the great leaders of the Liberal party.” Martin’s speech led into a tribute to Rae.

Under Rae’s stewardship, Liberals have managed to fight their way back into contention in national opinion polls, overtaking the NDP and now running tied or even slightly ahead of the Conservatives.

Rae used a 90′s song “Tubthumping” by the group Chumbawamba to rouse the spirits of Liberals who were severely mauled in the last election and reduced to third-party status.

“Like Chumbawamba we know, we get knocked down and we get up again and you ain’t never going to keep us down,” said Rae, reciting the lyrics of the song.