Provincial Leadership Process

The PC Party of Nova Scotia has been holding consultation meetings (10) all over the Province to listen to members about the last election and to get broad input on moving ahead, particularly in terms of the leadership process.

The meeting for our area was in Truro on July 8th. President John Kellegrew attended, along with Keith Hunter, Frank Elliott, Judi Giroux and Morris Haugg. It was a good open meeting. We had our say and we got the feeling that the party organizers were indeed listening. Cumberland North provided a written submission.

Cumberland North Consensus

1. That the leadership convention be later rather than sooner. There should be no rush. It should not be held before the summer of 2010, such as in the fall of 2010 at the earliest, preferably in the spring of 2011.

2. That the Provincial party set up a separate and totally independent leader search committee, with the mandate to find several potential leadership candidates and to encourage them to seek the nomination as leadership candidates.

3. That the Provincial Party draft two or more parallel leadership selection processes (e.g. delegated convention; direct vote of each member) with pros and cons for each type of process,
including financial costs.

This information shall be made available to each constituency and then have each constituency indicate it’s preference.

4. That the convention rules and regulations be written in such a way that a lower-ranked candidate (3rd, 4th etc) cannot win the leadership. The leadership can only be won by the person who ranks either first or second after the first ballot. In other words, there will be a maximum of two ballots. After the first ballot all candidates drop off, except for the top two.

There was a consensus among all persons present that the leadership convention should not be soon and that the best time was probably the spring of 2011. No decision was reached as to which method of electing the new leader was best. There is a choice between four different methods. We hope to be in a position to put the different methods on the agenda of the Constituency Council meeting and have everyone’s input.