VINFLA has a mail in ballot.

The Bad :

The letter from LPCBC telling us that we have a mail in ballot arrived yesterday late afternoon.It will be sent from LPCBC on September 19 (today) and must be post marked no later than September 29th to be counted on October 4th. That is the gist of it.

This is bad for the single most important purpose the LPC has. That is election readiness in all 308 ridings; granted that VIN is a rural riding where there is a historic pattern of anti establishment strategic voting. I have been told that the criteria set out for ridings to get a mail in ballot had a lot to do with the membership growth in the preceding few months of the leadership race. The membership from a list of 1200 in 2004 fell by attrition because LPCBC made NO effort to get renewed forms out to the lapsing members. the total left on the list plus a few online sign ups came to 130. Kim Haakstaad, was told to come up with a plan and she did. Abitrarily setting the number of 220 members (approx) as the target. Any ridings under that would get a mail in ballott, and I was told that 3 of the BC ridings came into that category. There was no discussion and no concerns by the intellectuals representing us around that table. No brain cells in that group.

Fair enough, that the death knell for this riding has been slowly ringing since the 'corruption' and 'criminalization' words of the CPC were used to beat the Liberals down.

My real problem is that the LPCBC has chosen to turn a blind eye to the problem, all laying low through the long leadership race hoping it will fix itself. The members of this ridings executive have tried to get the Vancouver Office to heed the fact that no meetings have been called for them to meet and each member who has tried through the person who is registered by Elections Canada as the contact (President)is just that :

A CONTACT who attends federal Council meetings pretending there is a living breathing organization getting ready to run in the next election. How stupid can they be when the membership list sits silently at 13o members.

I feel the LPC has disenfranchised me as a Liberal.


The Good:
In New Brunswick the Liberals are celebrating a majority victory. Congratulations! to their new Premier Shawn Graham, and all those Liberals who worked so hard to help make it happen. Nice!