Harper stacks deck against challenger to Tory deadbeat

[tuvor]

CALGARY - Got the political itch? Well, scratch the Conservatives.

They've secretly approved an accelerated process for selecting candidates that gives party headquarters new powers to protect current MPs from those who dare to want their job.

Outsiders need not apply unless they can somehow mobilize a challenge on barely one week's notice.

Under the new rules, introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and rubber-stamped in private at last week's Conservative caucus retreat, local ridings will no longer have the power to set nomination dates or be responsible for notifying the party membership.

HQ now calls all the shots a perfect fit with Harper's control fetish and the result is a form of democracy by stealth that will preserve tired incumbency and keep fresh blood from entering a party that campaigned on openness and transparency.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=044b5c6f-49b2-4bc7-b8cc-579acbca18e1&k=81147

[daleo]

1. More Harper hypocrisy

Democratic renewal...right.

[glarius]

2. Harper is scaring me more and more.......he's really dangerous!

If he ever gets a majority it will be the end of democracy in Canada, as we know it!:scared:

[tuvor]

3. Edmonton Journal opinion

(Perhaps the most liberal part of Alberta, but nice to see this slice of Albertan opinion nonetheless.)

The do-as-we-say, not-as-we-do Conservatives were at work again this week, this time ensuring that their incumbents don't have to face tough challenges from hard-working sorts who might also want to do some public service.

In theory, altering the party constitution to effectively prohibit anyone from challenging the nomination of a sitting MP is being done because a minority government cannot be caught in the situation where MPs are back in their ridings guarding their turf, rather than in the House of Commons voting. And that does sound understandable on the surface.

But didn't Stephen Harper try to woo us last year with promises of building a healthier, more vibrant democracy? The Conservative decision is very strange coming from a party that is at least half-rooted in the democratic values of the Reform party, the party that used to champion MP recalls and an elected Senate, and at one time flirted with term limits.

The Conservatives are apparently working on their own culture of entitlement.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id=583c643d-d709-438f-b249-fe2bc37f856a