The LPoC Convention 2023.
The first day of the Libertarian Party of Canada Convention is history. Lots of stimulating discussion. Sunday is for elections of new Board members and more discussion about the future of the Party.
LPoC Convention 2023. - My Comments
Dire Straits is the name of a popular British Rock band that was popular from 1977 to 1995. Fads come and go in music as in other spheres of life.
The Libertarian Party of Canada was formed in 1973 and recently passed its 50th anniversary. Like Dire Straits, its popularity has seen better days. No one knows for sure why. There is a different theory espoused by most people you ask, and this is part of the problem.
Root cause analysis is a method commonly used to solve problems in the sciences and engineering but in not often used in the social sciences. In political science, cause and effect have muddied relationships due to the unpredictable alchemy that oozes up when emotions tinge reason, and vice-versa.
The LPoC convention attendees still hope.
In spite of never electing even one MP on 50 years and never attaining even 2% of the popular vote total, those in attendance still hope to elect Libertarian candidates some day.
The LPoC will continue to operate as a political party for that purpose. Somehow, they imagine that sending one or two LPoC MPs to Ottawa will make a difference when Parliaments sits a total of 338 MPs with completely different goals and priorities.
Two quotes that inform my views after nine elections.
Andrew Breitbart said “Politics is downstream of culture”.
Thomas Jefferson said “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
I believe both these statements to be true.
All three levels of government today are a reflection of what the electoral majority of citizens want. First-past-the-post electoral system awards power to the winning party who promised preferential treatment for the electoral majority who, in contemporary Canada, hold collectivist ideological views in which big governments play a decisive role.
Large labour unions, with their Marxist values, are a prime example of organizations that cater to a self-serving community of citizens (union members) that make up a significant share of the voting population. They will generally rally twice as many electors to the polls on election night that non-union workers. This behind-the-scenes political activism significantly props up the vote count for the one major party that promises to serve their goals (at the expense of everyone else!). It's a mugs game. Any elector who wants something else, well..… they get “mugged” at the polls.
An election can also serve as a referendum.
When I run as an LPoC candidate, I don’t seek the ~$200,000+ per year job as an MP. Instead, I ask one vital question:
“Do we have too much government in Canada?”
I see myself as a PROXY for and idea - that the ballot choice for LESS GOVERNMENT is available to them to select of the MORE GOVERNMENT offered by every other party is not their preference.
I explain that a vote for LESS GOVERNMENT is their personal and registered statement that they believe to be the only realistic answer to resolve the problem of the too much government.
Then I ask them to imagine…
“what would happen if the next federal election in Canada tallied over 10 % of the vote total? 20%?”
It would launch a debate about the meaning of Canadian democracy, does it still exist, and what would it look like if we set our goals in achieving a genuine Civil Society in this nation.
Andrew Breitbart had the right idea.
Canada’s voters must understand the problem before that will choose the right solution. Until that day comes, Canada will continue its slide toward bankruptcy and mayhem for current and future generations.
I returned home from the LPoC Conference last nite, a four hour drive that offered much time to reflect on the weekend. Here are some highlights. (My apologies for not having all the new names at my fingertips.
Yesterday, Jacques Boudreau was unanimously re-elected as Leader. Rob W was elected as Deputy Leader.
Coreen Corcoran will hold her position as President.
The Board was reduced from nine positions to only four. Stephanie was re-elected to the Board. Three new members were elected. Too.
A new slate of 5 Ethics Committee members was chosen, including me.
The idea of creating a Shadow Cabinet in up to 20 members was raised and will be considered by the new Board in future meetings. I volunteered for the Climate Change portfolio because I wrote a book on the topic.
The LPoC’s Leadership and Board have three main goals to increase Membership, Money and Candidates. The Party is rebuilding itself from a poor showing in the last federal election that forms its baseline on metrics from which to grow. It will take careful and focused planning driven by realistic and achievable goals combined with new and creative thinking to make progress. Execution of plans is always the hard part because it takes work by unpaid volunteers to do “the heavy lifting”. I will be interested in seeing who among those elected this weekend will emerge as the spark plug to lead the efforts of people within the LPoC community to perform that work and get the desire results.
I, of course, am always available to discuss the LPoC’s plans and offer my ideas. In terms of actions, I am a writer today and plan to offer by skills in this area. Time will tell to see if I will be engaged by the new Leadership team to help in this regard. Of course, I plan to be an LPoC candidate for the 3rd time and may be a good spokesman for the LPoC to discuss this with anyone thinking about running as a Candidate.
It's a new day for the LPoC. May there be many sunny days ahead.
Gene, hope and pray for the LPoC to gain some percentage of a vote from Canadians as many of us are fed up with the runaway train that is Canada. Our debt is out of control, but our loss of FREEDOMS is what has me most concerned. None of the party leaders are speaking about this, other than Max of the PPC. If we don't speak up and stop the censorship that is happening we are in trouble...I don't recognize Canada anymore. There are still 4 innocent men from the Coutts blockade still in jail in Alberta I believe...let that sink in. When in our history did Canada ever have political prisoners????