The Nomination - A Black Box: What are the rules?
Beyond questions of meddling by party leadership or riding associations, the nomination process was thought to have unfolded inconsistently and often with pliable rules. Confusion was a common complaint.
Sometimes, candidates were officially selected by their riding association with very little time to spare, leaving only a matter of weeks or days to mobilize for the national campaign. “There were a lot of rumours about who was going to be nominated,” said one MP whose nomination was confirmed only four days before the start of the national election campaign. This left only a few days to assemble a team and strategy. “It was a very messy situation.”
The practice of selling party memberships to garner more votes was also a point of contention with many MPs. There were questions surrounding the financing of new memberships. “Who do you think pays for these memberships? I mean give me a break. People raise money and buy memberships for other people,” observed one MP.
There were also discrepancies between federal election rules and party nomination rules. In federal elections one must be 18 years of age to vote, but in some nomination races, younger teenagers had memberships and were eligible to cast ballots. “Memberships were free [in my riding] and just about everybody over 14 years of age was signed up. So, about 4,000 attended. Probably about 3,600 voted on the first ballot. Over a period of time, and by keeping our people there, we were able, on the fourth ballot, to get enough votes to win,” explained one MP.
There were also questions surrounding the importance and exploitation of identity and category politics, including the power wielded by religious institutions, ethnic groups and single issue lobbies. Several felt citizens were subject to manipulation by figures of influence within the party association. In some cases there were stories of groups of people being bused in from other ridings on the day of the convention, solely to vote for a specific candidate.