When Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with a single legion, he and his soldiers became outlaws under Roman law of the time. It was the Roman mob that saved him from arrest on his arrival in Rome. He was still their hero. In that sense Justin Trudeau is still the hero to the Liberal Party but he is doing himself irreparable harm with many activists by the stand he has taken on the nomination in Toronto’s Trinity-Spadina. He has broken his word.
Regrettably Christine Innes, former Liberal candidate in Trinity-Spadina, has had to launch a $1.5 million lawsuit just to get Trudeau’s attention. All Justin has to do is sit down and talk with Christine and we expect that the whole thing can be smoothed over. If he is not willing to do that, he will be picking up pieces of a broken Liberal Party between now and the election call next year.
Justin and his team could find that they are in trouble in up to a third of the potentially new Liberal ridings in Ontario and British Columbia. He will lose impetus in Quebec and east and wonder why.
It was because Julius Caesar knew and understood the Roman mob that he did bring his soldiers across the Rubicon. Ontario campaign functionary David MacNaughton seems to have no understanding of the attitudes of the average riding association membership in the province. The Liberals who have fought for the past 20 years to restore democracy to the Liberal Party are not going to let this stupidity in Trinity-Spadina go by.
This situation is a serious affront to people who believe in a strong and democratic Liberal Party. As has been said too often in the past, a leader can only lead where the party wants to go.
As things stand at the moment, the Liberals have probably given Trinity-Spadina to the New Democrats by default. Christine Innes is a bruised candidate who did nothing wrong. If we are going to blame Innes for her husband’s past shenanigans, the party will lose support from legions of women activists. Hell, if Trudeau and team want to pillory Christine Innes’ husband Tony Ianno, we might bring the rotten tomatoes.
But that is not the point. The party leadership has to stay out of candidate selection. Open party selection means that the Liberal Party will get some very good candidates and the odd not so good candidate. That is what happens in a democratic system. And democracy is worth it.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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