The Hill Times, February 6th, 2006
NEWS STORY
By Kate Malloy and F. Abbas Rana

Martin will try to shed Liberal Party's massive debt: Liberals

Liberals have to dramatically change leadership rules, fundraising tactics and must attract a solid leader. But it could be another six years before they're back in power.

Liberal Party Leader Paul Martin will try to shed the party of its multi-million-dollar debt before a new party leader is chosen next year, say Liberals who are soul-searching these days now that they're out of national political power after nearly 13 years in office.

"It is Paul Martin's intention to hand over the party to the next leader debt free," Marc Roy, former associate director of communications to Mr. Martin, told The Hill Times last week.

Mr. Roy declined to give specifics, but said Mr. Martin "will work very hard between now and the leadership convention to deliver a party that is debt free to the next leader."

The speculation is that the Liberals have a debt of $12-million to $30-million.

But Steven MacKinnon, national director of the Liberal Party, said on Friday that the party's debt is between $4-million and $5-million.

The Liberal National Executive is scheduled to meet on March 18 to set the details of the next leadership convention, but it will likely take place in the spring of 2007.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Party will have to change its leadership rules, dramatically change the way it fundraises, stop idol worship of political leadership and do this all in one or two years, say Liberals, who last week met in Ottawa for a national caucus meeting for the first time after losing the election to the Conservatives.

Mr. Martin (LaSalle-Émard, Que.) announced he would stay on as party leader until a new leader is elected, but named former defence minister Bill Graham (Toronto Centre, Ont.) as the party's opposition leader in the House.

Mr. Martin's move to stay on as party leader is seen as a protective measure in case the government is defeated, but Mr. Martin has divested himself of all authority from the party.

Mr. Graham, who was named because he made it clear that he won't run for the leadership, is also politically experienced and fluently bilingual.

Other Liberals last week said they expected Mr. Martin to help get the party back in financial shape.

"Martin is going to get his ass in gear and attempt to deal with the debt that his group left behind. I would think that's a reasonable expectation," said one top Liberal.

Another Liberal said the Grits are faced with a "real challenge" because they have to be ready for an election, but also need time--one year or preferably two years--to set the party policies, to set its vision and to fix the internal structures in order to put into place a leadership process and convention that is fair and open, as opposed to the Martin coronation. When that happens, the Liberal said, more candidates will come.

Meanwhile, Liberals are talking about a number of possible political scenarios.

They say if Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) is able to govern and not feed the fears that have been used against him, his position will likely strengthen and he will have a better chance of winning a minority or majority next time than the Liberals.

In this light, most Liberal Party stalwarts are unwilling to make a long-term commitment to run for the party's leadership.

But there are some brave souls.

Two-term Ottawa Liberal MP David McGuinty (Ottawa South, Ont.) did not rule out running for the party's leadership in an interview last week with The Hill Times.

"Right now, I'm working on these ideas [to rebuild the party], to take them forward. Everybody in the Liberal Party has an obligation to stop and think about how this will go forward and I'm really, really trying to raise the profile of the need here to make fundamental changes to the party and its process before we embark upon this journey," said Mr. McGuinty when asked outright if he's interested in running for the party leadership.

Pressed again, he said: "Right now, as they say, that's where I have to go. That's where I'm really focusing on. I'm looking forward to sitting down with Bill Graham on Tuesday or Wednesday for an hour. We're going to talk about these issues and go forward."

Last week, Frank McKenna, Brian Tobin and John Manley all bowed out of running for the leadership.

Some of the other possible names who could seek the Liberal leadership include: Ken Dryden (York Centre, Ont.); Joe Volpe (Eglinton-Lawrence, Ont.); Maurizio Bevilacqua (Vaughan, Ont.); Scott Brison (Kings-Hants, N.S.); Belinda Stronach (Newmarket-Aurora, Ont.); Michael Ignatieff (Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ont.); former Grit MP Martin Cauchon; John Godfrey (Don Valley West, Ont.); Denis Coderre (Bourassa, Que.); Dennis Mills; Stéphane Dion (Saint-Laurent-Cartierville, Que.); Bob Rae and Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy.

"We're down to the pygmies, at this stage," said one top Liberal. "The giant of the whole thing was McKenna. He was the one that had the capacity to do some of the healing, generate some of that healing that needed to be generated. He had recognition off the top, he has connections to the corporate community that would have made the debt situation maybe a bit easier to resolve. He had a whole lot of things going for him."

The top Liberal said despite a "small clump" of people in Toronto trying to drum up support for Mr. Ignatieff as the best candidate across the country, the comparison to Pierre Trudeau, doesn't wash.

"I think there's an uphill battle as far as Ignatieff is concerned."

Meanwhile, Mr. McGuinty, 46, who before entering politics served as president and CEO of the National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), and won the last election by defeating Conservative "star candidate" Allan Cutler, by a margin of more than 4,000 votes, said it's imperative for the party to start the rebuilding process from within as soon as possible.

"There's a need, in my view, everyday Liberals want, to a certain extent, reclaim their party. They want to do so because they don't feel from what I heard at the door that they are meaningful shareholders in this party," said Mr. McGuinty, whose older brother is Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Mr. McGuinty said in order for the party to rebuild it's important to have a full and frank financial disclosure about the party's financial condition, and a "one-member, one-vote voting system for the next leadership convention and a new aggressive grassroots-based fundraising strategy."

Mr. McGuinty warned that if the Liberals did not generate fresh ideas for the party and did not reform the party, they could expect a serious backlash from Canadians in the next election.

Stephen Clarkson, a university professor, an expert on the Liberal Party and author of the recently-released The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics, told The Hill Times that given that Mr. Harper has been able to win a minority government, the Liberal Party doesn't have a long time to rebuild.

"If there's an election this time next year, they've got only one year but they will have a big role in deciding how long Stephen Harper stays. If they decide they want to spend time on their policy development, they could take [longer]. They haven't got more than two years because minority governments don't last [long] and Harper's edge is even smaller than what the Liberals' was," said Prof. Clarkson, pointing out that Liberals had a hard time keeping their government afloat even after winning 135 seats in the 2004 election while Conservatives have managed to win only 124 seats in last month's election.

Prof. Clarkson added that the rebuilding process will require the Liberal Party to bring unity to the party's rank and file, generate new policy ideas and select an effective leader.

"Trying to regenerate a family solidarity is crucial because, especially in opposition, the party relies on volunteers and energy coming from citizen activists and not corporate sponsors. So, healing, reconciliation is crucial. Working out a set of policies on which the party can redefine itself will be very important...The choice of the leader will be crucial because on the leader hangs everything," said Prof. Clarkson.

Meanwhile, another Liberal pointed out to The Hill Times that the Liberals have missed out on electing a whole younger generation of MPs, in contrast to the Conservative Party's caucus, for instance, because the Liberals' nominations were protected for years under former prime minister Jean Chrétien.

"If the Tories don't make any huge mistakes and if they're able to turn the minority into a majority then the Liberal Party, when it looks for a leader, and you never want to admit this publicly, but reality has to enter into the equation at some point, you're looking at the person who is going to try and get us back into government in about six years. Well, that person should probably be in their 40s, not of the generation that got us into this mess, so it's a real predicament," said the Liberal.

But the Liberals have to stop being tempted by a candidate on a "white horse" and politics as personality because "nobody has the complete package."

Declared the Liberal: "We have to get away from this politics as personality. The grassroots should be feeding policy to a political arm that has the skill and experience to win seats with the idea of getting into power so that we can put into motion the policies that the people who support the party want. It's a simple model. It's worked well in the past and somehow we got away from that."

The Liberal said the party lost its way while in power. Without a strong opposition the party became lazy and fought with itself. Now it has to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

"I still believe the Liberal Party of Canada is still the most successful political party in the history of modern democracy. The leader of that party is still a prestigious position. I think we're going to get a good, solid slate of candidates, but the first focus is the process. The process has to be and be seen to be fair," said the Liberal, pointing out that more candidates will come forward when the rules are fair.

Arana@hilltimes.com
kmalloy@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times