One of the candidates vying for presidency of the Liberal Party says he supports a debate on the role of the monarchy in Canada.
It's the kind of new idea Liberals should consider if they want to engage a new generation of voters, said Mike Crawley, the president of the federal Ontario Liberals.
"This is exactly what the Liberal party should be doing, and it stopped doing over the last several years," Crawley told CTV's Question Period.
"We have to go back to when the Liberal party was all about innovation, all about ideas."
Crawley is considered to be one of the two frontrunners for the federal Liberal presidency, along with former cabinet minister Sheila Copps.
He said the part must focus its efforts on connecting with young voters, rather than relying on traditional supporters.
"Young Liberals, young people have disengaged from politics and what we've got to do is create a political party that they want to want to become involved with, that gives them a voice," he said.
"The party should constantly be having new ideas percolate up from its membership," he added.
"We don't need four or five ideas coming up every five years or every two years. We need thousands of ideas constantly percolating up and constantly being debated amongst members. But moreover, what we need to do is reach out beyond the party's wall and bring in ideas from outside, from think tanks, from entrepreneurs."
Crawley ruled out a merger with the opposition New Democrats.
"I'm running to be president of the Liberal party because I want to rebuild the Liberal party. I want to create the first truly modern, political party."
Copps, who also claims frontrunner status, said she has the experience and credibility to run the party, which was decimated in the last federal election. It now holds just 34 seats and has third-party status in the House of Commons.
Copps cited the late Jack Layton's success on the federal campaign trail last spring as a good example of political experience paying off.
"I think if you're talking about experience, you'll remember the ‘orange crush' in the last election," she said.
"They had a guy with a few miles on his belt by the name of Jack Layton who managed to convince voters he had something different to say. So I think age is not a predictor of vision. I think energy and ideas are what really ... move politics in a different direction and I think I have the capacity to inspire Liberals -- and especially, I think, to get Canadians thinking that we have something relevant to say."
