A new candidate for LPC presidency

So it turns out that this very interesting op-ed piece, which appeared in the Star last month, is a manifesto for the newest candidate in the race for the Liberal Party presidency. In addition to Sheila Copps and Ron Hartling, who've been (officially and unofficially) in the running for some weeks now, add this man to the mix, as someone to watch.

 

  Mike Crawley is 42, relatively young in the world of politics,  but  he's a veteran within Liberal circles, having served as  president of the Ontario wing of the LPC from 2003 to 2010.

 

But he doesn't seem to be a status-quo kind of guy. This part of his op-ed piece, in fact, is typical of what he's saying and what's getting him notice, from what I hear:

 

 

 

The Liberal party needs to find its raison d’être independent of pollsters and pundits. The great successes of the Liberal party never came from being the “Goldilocks party” — not too left, not too right. Nor did it come from a belief that government must be the first option to address any challenge in society. Certainly, the great achievements of Liberal governments did not fall out of a slavish devotion to an immutable Liberal “brand.”

 Over  the past month,  Crawley has  been quietly talking to people and gathering up what many now believe is enough to take a serious run for the job. (I saw  Crawley, in fact, just a few weeks ago,  at the funeral for Jamie Deacey, where former prime minister Paul Martin spoke.) 

The Liberals choose a new president in January, at their biennial convention in Ottawa. The job, incidentally, is a volunteer one, but it's also a massive one. The new Liberal party president is going to be crucial in any effort to save the party from extinction, and getting its structure, finances and membership in serious enough shape to fight the next election in 2015.

Crawley's official declaration of his candidacy is expected to come within days.

 

 

 

 **(Photo, btw, comes from  a website known as quarkbase.)

Comments

[michael C]

The Liberal Party needs new ideas from new people who have passion and fresh approaches to the challenges of this new age. The Liberal Party must develope policies and solutions that correlate with the challenges of today and not be consumed with the inter party fights of the past and the notion that they have the sole right to govern this country. The party must get back in touch with the dreams and aspirations of ordinary folks. For the past several years the Party has been consumed with the grab for power without any real and credible policies which are forward looking. While the Liberal Party's achievements have been admirable over the last century, the future demands new and fresh faces and ideas to guide Canada in the right directions in keeping with our traditions and ideals. Mike is a welcomed fresh face with great grass roots credentials and real world experience.