The B.C. Liberal Party has launched a leadership race that is longer and more expensive than previous ones, while trying to fix problems that some voters said prevented them from participating before.
The party said Tuesday that the leader will be announced at a convention in Vancouver on Feb. 4, which is also Super Bowl Sunday, and will follow a three-day voting period online and by phone.
One political scientist said the race rules will favour candidates with support from rural areas, and allow space for lesser-knowns to build their profiles.
The leadership rules released Tuesday are similar to the process used to elect Christy Clark as leader in 2011.
“We looked to replicate the elements of the 2011 race that people were comfortable with and happy with and minimize some of the concerns that came up last time, in how we designed the process this time,” party spokesman Emile Scheffel said.
Each party member will have a vote, and equal weight will be given to every riding. Voters will rank their choices on a preferential ballot.
This year, the race is six weeks longer, allowing time for the long legislative session that runs from Sept. 8 to Dec. 10 and for the holiday season, Scheffel said.
The party has raised the spending cap to $600,000 from $450,000 to reflect the longer race, Scheffel said. It is removing exemptions for personal expenses.
In response to concerns raised in the previous race, the party is replacing mail-out personal identification numbers.
“There are people in the North who say they never got their PIN and either had to jump through hoops or never got to vote,” Scheffel said.
Instead, the party is putting together a request for proposals for a vendor to provide an identification-verification system, likely by phone and web.
The party is also tightening membership rules, and will prohibit payment by cash or prepaid credit card.
Michael Prince, the University of Victoria’s Lansdowne professor of social policy, said the new rules will give some potential candidates an advantage.
The weighted voting system favours rural areas, he said, which could be a boon for potential candidates such as Peace River South MLA Mike Bernier and Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone, he said.
Prince said a longer race would also allow “new faces” time to build organization and momentum.
This would help someone such as MP Dianne Watts, a former Surrey mayor who would be establishing herself in a new political arena, more than potential candidates such as Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Andrew Wilkinson or Abbotsford West MLA Mike de Jong.
The ranked voting system would also influence how candidates choose to behave, most likely in terms of how they attack or don’t attack their opponents during organized debates, he said.
“Watch for how candidates make nice or nasty towards each other,” Prince said.
And the three-day online and phone voting system puts a premium on solid provincewide organization, in tracking members and support.
No one has officially declared his or her candidacy; however, Bernier, de Jong, Stone, Watts, Wilkinson and Vancouver-Langara MLA Michael Lee are among those believed to be considering a run.
“I think the party did a great job pulling together the rules. I’ve been connecting with folks about a leadership run, and there is a lot of excitement about the future of our party and province,” Bernier told the Times Colonist Tuesday.
“I’ll be connecting with people over the coming days to listen to their advice — and make a final decision.”
Wilkinson said interim leader Rich Coleman and caucus chairwoman Jackie Tegart are determining the roles to be played by sitting MLAs who enter the race.
He said he will confirm with potential supporters over the coming weeks before deciding to run.
“Having discussed this with hundreds of people all over B.C. over the last few weeks, I’ll be circling back and sorting out whether those rules make it workable for me to proceed with their support,” he said.
Former attorney general Geoff Plant will be chief returning officer, overseeing voting arrangements and rules compliance.
Each declared candidate will take part in party-sponsored debates or forums in Vancouver, Surrey, Prince George, Nanaimo and the Thompson-Okanagan region, plus one organized by the B.C. Liberal Indigenous Network.
