OTTAWA – This weekend Liberal Party members from across Canada will convene in Halifax to begin drafting campaign strategy and voting on potential platform policy that challenges the status quo of the political party.
It's the last convention before the 2019 federal election. Members will hear from their leader, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and focus on reconnecting with their hundreds of campaigners and volunteers.
The party said attendance is set to exceed the last two conventions, and are planning on having around 3,000 registered delegates by the time the convention gets underway. This will include most of the party’s 138 MPs; their Hill and constituency staff; longtime Liberal supporters and donors; and volunteers and party members from across the country.
The demographics at the convention are set to be the youngest yet. According to the party, around one in four of the delegates are members of the youth wing, the Young Liberals of Canada (YLC) aged 14 to 25.
"There has been, in recent years, a really concerted push to open up the party to more Canadians," said Liberal Party spokesperson Braeden Caley, who cited low registration fees and a new policy process as reasons for the boost.
The party says the gathering of party faithful will focus on two themes: highlighting how they think their "real change" plan is working, and on how the party plans to rally people behind its "positive plan" ahead of 2019.
Here is a breakdown of what you need to know in advance:
Trudeau, Axelrod, Syrian chocolatier to speak
The convention kicks off Thursday evening, for most delegates, with opening remarks in the evening from Liberal Party President Anna Gainey and cabinet ministers Scott Brison and Marc Garneau.
Friday promises panels, sessions and candidate presentations, and will include a few featured speakers, including former U.S. president Barack Obama’s senior adviser David Axelrod, who will sit down with Trudeau’s principal secretary Gerald Butts; Syrian refugee and Peace by Chocolate founder Tareq Hadhad, whose family started the Nova Scotia business in 2016; President of Levi Strauss & Co. Global Brands James Curleigh; Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne; and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau.
On Saturday, Trudeau will address the delegates, as will health expert and associate professor Dr. Danielle Martin; Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, founder of "theBoardlist," a platform promoting female diversity on corporate boards; and cabinet ministers Bill Morneau and Francois-Philippe Champagne.
Voting on future campaign policy:
Policy is always a big part of party conventions. Saturday will be the day when delegates will debate and vote on the 30 resolutions that members voted to top the agenda.
This year, the Liberals took a new approach to their policy process. Party members were able to submit policy resolutions that fit party criteria of being national in scope, Charter compliant and not duplicating a previous commitment.
Of the 30 policy ideas, delegates will determine the top 15 that will be sent to the national platform committee for consideration as policy planks for the 2019 campaign.
One of the more potentially contentious resolutions delegates will be deliberating over is the decriminalization of consensual sex work for Canadians 18-years and older.
President of the Young Liberals Mira Ahmad is one of the delegates set to speak in favour of the resolution.
“I think it’s a really progressive policy,” she said, adding that she thinks part of the job of Young Liberals "is to continue pushing the status quo of the party. It’s not always easy, but I think that’s really why the YLC exists with the party, to push policies like this that may kind of freak people out at the beginning."
Other policies of note include a call to decriminalize low-level drug possession and consumption; create a full federal ministry for seniors; the possible creation of a subsea tunnel to Newfoundland; and a push to finally act on a national pharmacare plan.
Once resolutions earn majority support as a priority at the convention, they become party policy.
First convention in Atlantic Canada
It is the first time in party history that the national convention is being held in Atlantic Canada, something Halifax Liberal MP Andy Fillmore said is "long overdue." Before becoming a politician, one of his areas of focus as a city planner was the new Halifax Convention Centre, where the event is being held.
He and the 31 other Liberal MPs who swept Atlantic Canada in the 2015 election were pushing to have Liberals gather there since before the party’s last biennial convention in Winnipeg, where they passed out buttons promoting Halifax as the next host city.
To showcase the city, Fillmore has been working with his local team to set up tours—including one of Africville, a community founded by black Nova Scotians in the 1800s—and has been offering recommendations to his colleagues about where eat and what to see while in the province.
He said the convention will conclude with an outdoor block party on Argyle Street, a recently pedestrianized downtown strip, where Fillmore says there will be music and open air patios. Having the convention in Atlantic Canada also speaks to the party’s desire to extend its electoral good fortunes in the region, come 2019.
"We are not taking anything for granted. There is no expectation that anybody is going to continue to have success unless they work really hard… this convention is about that. It’s about mustering ourselves for a really important year ahead," Fillmore said.
Liberals to elect new party executives
At the convention, Liberals will also be naming their new national board -- including a new president and English and French vice-presidents, as well as the executives of their Indigenous; women; senior; and youth commissions.
Outgoing vice-president Suzanne Cowan will be acclaimed as the new president of the Liberal Party; Elise Bartlett, a longtime Liberal will be acclaimed as the French vice-president; and there are two women in the running for English vice-president, Ahmad, and former Liberal candidate Bang-Gu Jiang.
"If we have three women leading the Liberal party, we’re great role models for other parties," said Ahmad. "We know that there’s a lot more work to do and we’re just at the start."
Pre-2019 election training:
Party insiders see the convention as the first time to rally the troops ahead of the 2019 campaign. It is the last official gathering of the party as a whole before the next election.
Over the weekend the party is running panels and sessions aimed at training volunteers and campaign teams. There, best practices and lessons learned from 2015 will be shared. Some of this training will be geared at youth, as having a large number of youth present will be key to having them participate again in 2019 in their local campaigns.
"We are heading in to an election year next year, so we are rekindling relationships with an incredible core of volunteers who worked so hard in 2015 and we want to reconnect with them and start to build that team again," said Fillmore. "It’s a wonderful way for Liberal-minded folks from across the country to get together… and talk about what’s next and where we’re all going collectively."
