Before the Harperites start to harp on the subject of back-room decision making and the Liberal Party leadership, let us be reminded that the Conservative Party is itself the result of back-room plotting to merge the upstart Canadian Alliance/Reform Party with the founding party of confederation, the Progressive Conservative Party (itself a merged party of Conservatives and Progressives). Unlike Alliance members, who were allowed to vote on the proposed merger, Progressive Conservative party members were denied, in most cases, any say. Instead, we were invited to electoral district meetings to ratify a slate of delegates to a non-convention that would approve the merger. Debate on the question of merger was not allowed at these meetings. A great deal of back-room maneuvering went on to ensure only members of the pro-merger delegate slate were chosen. All this transpired moreover, despite the written commitment of the then leader of the Progressive Conservative Party that he would never broach merger with the Alliance. Years of lawsuits followed over the theft of the Progressive Conservative Party’s name and assets.
Do the Harperites really want Canadians to be reminded of the barricades around the Conservative Party’s own house?
