This person is a progressive? It is more likely, we have met rocks that are more progressive than Ontario Liberal leadership contender MPP Kathleen Wynne. The person who wrote her seven-point plan for party renewal and reform should be ashamed. Mind you, Wynne must have signed off on it, so you can put all the blame on her.
If you do not believe how silly this document is, just read item three. The first point is that Kathleen supports a strong and independent Executive Council which will be responsible for party staff. Does this mean that she thinks the party staff are reporting somewhere else? We wonder where?
It then says that regional vice-presidents will be empowered to bring riding issues forward. It makes you wonder just what the hell she thinks the regional vice-presidents have been doing?
The document concludes item three by saying the party must always have in place a full-time executive director. How interesting! Has somebody proposed an alternative?
And the document goes on like that. Did you know that Kathleen—as leader—will appoint a five-person commission to review the party’s nomination process. She is not just going to accept the fact that the top-down process now in place is destroying the Liberal Party in Ontario.
It is particularly interesting when you recognize the distinction Kathleen makes between held and unheld ridings. It speaks volumes. It appears to give the party’s sitting members of the legislature inordinate control of their riding through the party leader’s office. As long as the leader likes the sitting member, this person can do no wrong. Welcome to boss politics.
The biggest joke of the document is item number six. It is a one-liner saying that Kathleen will increase the involvement of party members in policy discussions. She will let them discuss it but she does not seem too interested in letting them have any authority over the process or implementation or review.
But give the lady credit. She adds at the end that she is committed to increased accessibility and accountability. Whatever that means! She adds that she will be available in new ways such as telephone town-hall meetings. The first time we tried that technique we realized that it gives the people running it total control of the process. Telephone town halls are not an open form of communication.
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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