UPDATE: According to one commenter, delegates have had “this information” for “weeks. If that’s the case, I have to wonder why the party has been dragging its feet on releasing the final package. When asked about the delay by CanWest last week, party president Don Plett said that the election had “slowed some things down” for the national policy committee, which is in charge of deciding which resolutions make it to the floor of the convention, but didn’t mention that the delegates have been given advance notice of what they’ll be voting on next week.
UPDATE: According to one commenter, delegates have had “this information” for “weeks. If that’s the case, I have to wonder why the party has been dragging its feet on releasing the final package. When asked about the delay by CanWest last week, party president Don Plett said that the election had “slowed some things down” for the national policy committee, which is in charge of deciding which resolutions make it to the floor of the convention, but didn’t mention that the delegates have been given advance notice of what they’ll be voting on next week.
Is that the normal practice? Any delegates – current or former – out there who can comment on that? I’d have to think that giving early access to some but not all party members could rub some people the wrong way — delegates are, after all, supposed to represent the members of their local riding association, so you’d think they’d want to get their take on the proposals before heading off to vote.
Good news, Conservative delegates party members: You may be about to find out what you’ll be voting for (or against) at next week’s policy convention in Winnipeg – that is, provided that the deadline for proposed amendments to the party constitution applies to policy resolutions too.
From the Rules for Constitution and Policy Discussions – Conservative Party of Canada Convention 2008 (Revised October 2008):
3.2 Pursuant to Article 16.3 of the Constitution, the package of constitutional resolutions to go forward for consideration at Convention 2008 shall be posted on the public website of the Party no later than November 5, 2008.
No sign of the promised posting yet, but as soon as it goes up, I’ll add a link to the package so we can play along during next week’s policywonkage. (Those of us who aren’t going to Winnipeg have to make our own fun.)
UPDATE: And they’re up – the constitutional proposals, that is; as yet, still no sign of the policy resolutions.