Roundup: Warning signs of grassroots demise in Ontario

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The Star profiles the four potential leadership candidates for the Ontario Liberal party, two of whom are sitting MPPs, the other two being sitting MPs, and I had a couple of observations. One is that the whole piece is framed in the absolutely toxic discourse of looking for a messiah to resurrect a party’s fortunes, which is one of the big problems in Canadian politics in the current era, and a big part of that is because we have devolved leadership contests into pseudo-presidential primaries, the result of which has been to hollow out parties and turn them into empty shells to be inhabited by leaders like hermit crabs. Those leaders turn that hollow shell of a party into a personality cult, until their time is done, and then the next leader does the same again. It’s also worth noting that the Ontario Liberals are currently one of the few remaining parties in the country that still used delegated conventions for the leadership—yes, a problem, but not as bad of one as one-member-one-vote systems. Of course, the article also derides delegated conventions as favouring “party elites,” which is a load of bullshit. Delegated conventions are better at engaging grassroots than OMOV because the riding associations need to get together to elect the delegates, who are then trusted to carry their wishes forward on subsequent ballots.

The other observation I see is that it largely glosses over the fact that the grassroots party in the province has crumbled, and many of its riding associations exist only on paper. This is absolutely shocking, because this is an admission that the party has completely failed in keep up the absolute basics of how our democratic system is structured. This is what leader-centric parties have led to, where the grassroots are seen only as votes for a leadership contest, donors, and a pool of volunteers at election time rather than the people who make up the party, who do the policy work, who run the nominations, and who do the work of accountability at the local level. The grassroots riding associations are supposed to be the interface between the riding and the caucus, especially in ridings that the party doesn’t hold currently. The fact that the party leadership (and I’m guessing Steven Del Duca most especially was part of the problem here) allowed things to atrophy this badly is a really worrying sign about the health of democracy in this province, but also this country generally because these trends are across parties and provinces, because we have failed to learn our lessons when it comes to the basics of civics. This is the kinds of things that people should have learned about in school (and why I wrote my book).

I will add that I would really prefer if the two MPs didn’t jump into this race, and that they stayed in Ottawa and did the work here rather than try to be saviours for the provincial party, especially because voices like Nathaniel Erskine-Smith are so necessary in Ottawa and being a “rogue” in the caucus, which I fear would be swamped and workshopped to death if he were to try to apply that to leadership. But maybe I’m just being cynical here.

Ukraine Dispatch, Day 334:

Russian forces have increased shelling outside of their held territories in the East, particularly around Zaporizhzhia. The head of the Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk region says that he visited Soledar, which the Russians claim they captured but Ukraine still denies. Meanwhile, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with families of the victims from the helicopter crash earlier in the week. Zelenskyy is also promising further action to root out corruption, with key decisions coming this week, given that this continues to be one of the sticking points for Ukraine in joining with the European Union and other alliances. Elsewhere, here’s a look at how organisations are working to counter Russian disinformation about the war.

https://twitter.com/melnykandrij/status/1616832357826265091

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau joined both Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh in Vancouver for Lunar New Year celebrations.
  • After a week of good-news announcements across the country, Trudeau and his Cabinet are holding a three-day retreat in Hamilton.
  • The government has come to a $2.8 billion agreement on the remaining Indigenous complainants around Day Schools in BC.
  • The CSE’s Centre for Cyber Security is giving more warnings about TikTok and its aggressive data harvesting.
  • The Canadian Transportation Agency continues to drag its heels in punishing airlines for their failures, but the minister says “all options are on the table.”
  • Here is a look at why it’s taking so long for charges to be laid in the bread price-fixing investigation.
  • We have more information on the plans for the King’s coronation in May, but don’t expect much from Canada, because otherwise we’d upset the CFIB.
  • Here is a look at contaminated sites that need remediation in the Territories, many of which will need the federal government to pick up the tab.
  • The Mistasin crater in Labrador could become a new astronaut training centre.
  • Blaine Higgs seems to be admitting that the premiers were indeed playing chicken with the federal government over healthcare funding, and are now blinking.
  • François Legault seems to have trouble with the concept of protecting minority rights in a democracy.
  • Danielle Smith has ordered a “review” of emails after the story about staffers contacting Crown prosecutors (but I expect this will be a whitewash).
  • Here’s the rest of Susan Delacourt’s interview with Justin Trudeau on the people who hate him, and what keeps him up at night.
  • Chantal Hébert sees echoes of Paul Martin’s health funding agreements with what Trudeau may soon accomplish, and how it may not be the win Trudeau hopes.

Odds and ends:

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