Throwing a Grenade into the Caucus Room -- Candidate Selection in BC
It was shocking news for many. BC United Party leader Kevin Falcon and BC Conservative leader John Rustad held a press conference on August 28 at which Falcon announced the suspension of BC United's participation in the upcoming provincial election and pledged full support for the Conservatives. This follows several years of bitter rivalry and acrimony between the two leaders and the two parties with Falcon expelling Rustad from the BC United Party back in 2022 and Rustad later joining the Conservatives.
Most BC United MLAs, such as longstanding MLA and former Deputy Premier, Shirley Bond, were caught off guard, along with party riding associations, staffers, donors and voters who were not aware of this rapidly patched together backroom deal. For that matter, neither were most Conservative candidates, riding associations and staffers who were also blindsided.
While pulling the rug out from under his party's candidates (under pressure from financial backers), Falcon appears to have gotten virtually nothing in return out of this backroom deal other than his claim that he was supposedly unifying the "centre-right" coalition in order to defeat the governing NDP. Time will tell if there is more to this story and whether this current rickety coalition will hold together.
For his part, Rustad indicated his only promise was to "consider" allowing some BC United candidates to run under the Conservative banner subject to a vetting process controlled by Rustad. This in itself creates all kinds of problems and a musical chairs-like situation given that only 93 seats are available in the provincial legislature, yet between them, the Conservatives and BC United had previously nominated 140 candidates. Already certain candidates from both parties have been sent the message that, despite being previously nominated, they will not receive Conservative Party blessing.
This backroom deal was a complete and abject capitulation by Falcon that plunged the BC United Party into chaos with some candidates withdrawing from the campaign altogether, others considering running as independents and still others hoping to go with the Conservatives. Mike Bernier, BC United MLA for Peace River South, summed up the wreckage as "[Falcon] went out there. Tried to give the image that he is jumping on his sword when in fact he threw a grenade in our [BC United] caucus room and then ran out."
As journalist Paul Willcocks notes in The Tyee, there is "something broken with a system that allows one person to shut down a party and remove a key option for voters seven weeks before an election." The problem also exists at the federal level where there are all kinds of examples of party leaders and party headquarters determining who gets nominated, often using dirty tricks and manipulations, with voters and even party members left out in the cold.
But that is how the current establishment party system works and it crosses party lines. Candidate selection is in the hands of the political parties which are private organizations and not in the hands of the voters at large. Under this system, party leaders have the power to act as virtual dictators with the right to appoint or cancel candidates as they see fit.
This is not democratic. We need to renew our political process and one of the key issues is candidate selection. Under the present system, parties and party leaders have a hammerlock on the selection process. Why not open things up and have a nomination process through which voters could select candidates instead of the parties?
In its early history, BC had a non-party system of governance where candidates ran as independents. Why not re-think our current situation and adopt new ways of democratic process consistent with the needs of today?
This article was published
in
Volume 54 Numbers 8-9 - September 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS540811.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca