VANCOUVER - Liberal rank and file who got no say in the choice of Michael Ignatieff have ensured that all party members will be able to vote directly for their leaders in future.
Just hours before Ignatieff was to be acclaimed leader Saturday, delegates to a Liberal convention overwhelmingly adopted a proposal to move to a one-member, one-vote process for electing all future leaders.
The move ends the era of the big, colourful delegated conventions that used to be the norm for Canadian political parties. The Liberals are the last party to drop the exciting but expensive and time-consuming method of choosing their leaders.
Ignatieff himself has been championing the move to a direct, universal vote, part of an apparent bid to soothe party members irked by the undemocratic manner in which he ascended to the party helm.
This weekend's convention was to have been the culmination of a five-month-long leadership contest. But in the midst of a parliamentary crisis last December, Stephane Dion was pressured to step down immediately and the Liberal national executive decided to install Ignatieff as interim leader on the basis of consultation with only 800 elite members, including MPs and senators.
Once it became clear there would be no party-wide vote, Ignatieff's chief rival for the leadership, Bob Rae, bowed out. Dominic LeBlanc, the only other contender, also stepped aside.
Rae was the most impassioned voice Saturday in favour the move to a direct vote for every party member.
"I think it's very important that a message go out from this convention to the people of Canada, that the Liberal party is an open party . . . that the Liberal party is not a private club," he told delegates.
Among other things, Rae said later that the new process could be more easily accelerated should the party ever find itself in another emergency that requires a new leader to be chosen quickly.
He refused to rehash the undemocratic conclusion of his own leadership aspirations.
"I'll leave the irony for others," Rae told reporters.
"Life goes on. We've got a very good leader and he's going to be confirmed today and we're going to be working together with Michael. It's going to be terrific."
Liberals narrowly rejected a one-member, one-vote process at their 2006 convention, which chose Dion as leader. Rae said the change of heart now "sends out a very clear message as to how we want to do things in the future."
