PC members set to vote on rule changes in wake of election defeat
Proposals include ranked ballot to choose next leader, power to expel members who bring party ‘into disrepute'
Members of New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative Party are facing major decisions on the future of their battered and divided organization.
They will gather in Moncton on May 24 to debate and vote on a series of motions that could change the rules for choosing a new leader and give more power to grassroots members over nominating candidates.
Another motion would give the party the authority to expel members who dissent.
If adopted, a three-person committee of the party could revoke the membership of someone who "publicly brings the party into disrepute," a phrase that could apply to any number of situations.
In 2023, six PC MLAs voted in the legislature against then-premier Blaine Higgs. Instead, they supported a Liberal opposition motion calling for further study of his proposed changes to the province's gender identity and sexual orientation policy for schools.
One of those former MLAs, Jeff Carr, told CBC News that internal disagreements should not get to that point.
"There are different opinions on how we got where we are and why we're at where we are as a party," he said.
"I always believe a strong leadership contender or a stronger leader can settle those differences within the party before they get to be a public spectacle."
The package of 47 motions obtained by CBC News does not indicate which riding association or party member authored the motion on expelling members.
There are also questions about the process being used to decide which motions will go to a vote at the May 24 meeting.
Each motion must win the support of a threshold number of local riding associations to advance to the full provincial meeting.
Former president finds process 'strange'
But former party president Don Moore of Moncton says a resolution he drafted, to give all 49 ridings in the province equal voting weight in the choice of a new party leader, was quashed before it could go through that process.
"It was disqualified, and the only reason I was given was it was considered 'undemocratic,' and that doesn't make sense to me," said Moore, who was party president in 2017.
"There seems to be sort of a strange process that's been brewed up lately that is not part of the party constitution," he said.
"I think there's some people who are trying to control the future of the party based on some criteria of what they want. That to me is not what should be important in a grassroots party affair."
PC Party president Erika Hachey did not respond to an interview request about the process.
Glen Savoie, the interim leader, said he wouldn't discuss the motions yet, and staffers at the legislature did not make other PC MLAs available in response to a request from CBC News.
"I'm not going to comment on anything that our membership hasn't had a chance to look at," Savoie said.
The proposed changes to the leadership vote would adopt a ranked ballot system.
That would let members rank their choices for leader in a single ballot, with lower-ranked choices dropping off in each round of counting until someone gets more than 50 per cent of the vote.
It would avert situations such as happened in 2016, when it took four rounds of voting over a 10-hour period for Higgs to win the leadership.
The motion on expelling party members would centralize that power among a smaller group of people.
It would give the power to a three-person committee chosen by the party executive.
The existing PC constitution requires an 80 per cent vote by the provincial council, a body made up of 49 riding presidents and several dozen other party officials.
The wording of the motion allows them to be kicked out for specific actions, such as crossing the floor to another party in the legislature, or campaigning for a candidate from another party during an election.
But the reference to revoking the membership of someone who "brings the party into disrepute" could apply to any number of situations.
Some of the six MLAs who voted with the Liberals in 2023 on the gender-identity policy criticized Higgs's leadership. Some other PC MLAs were critical of Higgs or the party in other ways.
Moore said "it does look a little bit" like some of the motions were drafted in response to recent party controversies.
He said "different groups" within the party were trying to "move things forward, or actually specifically not move things forward. … I wonder, does this involve some of those groups?"
One motion would give local party riding associations more power over the recruitment of candidates and the scheduling of nomination meetings.
The riding executive in Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins feuded with the party office in 2023 over the selection of candidate Faytene Grasseschi — whom Higgs endorsed — and the timing of her nomination.
Another would cap how much money the PC Party could raise from outside the province.
Higgs's aggressive fundraising in Western Canada last year led the Liberals and Greens to promise a ban on out-of-province donations.
Another motion would require the party to hire bilingual staff and ensure its own meetings use simultaneous translation.
Higgs's inability to speak French was seen as an obstacle to winning support among francophones.
Carr said party members should hesitate to make major changes to party rules before the leadership race expected next year, because some changes could lead good candidates to opt out.
"It could turn them off," he said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
