Part III: Governance
Describing the composition of the Party's decision making bodies, the process by which decisions are made and the way the Party governs itself is perhaps just as difficult an undertaking as describing Party finances.
The Party founders put structures in place that reflected the two realities of the sixties: the partnership with Labour and the fact the Federal Party rested on Sectional foundations. The composition of the Party's decision making bodies were thus a combination of members with federal mandates, accompanied by representation from Labour and the provincial/territorial Sections.
Over the years, successive Conventions have sought to accommodate other emerging constituencies - such as women, youth, visible minorities, aboriginal communities and federal ridings - by adding positions here and there to these bodies.
This patchwork approach has eroded the cohesion that was originally in place. The largeness, complex composition and fuzzy mandates of these have rendered them inaccessible to members.
More than anything else, members want:
- These bodies to become smaller and reconnected to reality. The illusion of openness and greater democracy that comes with attempting to have everybody represented around the table has resulted in less accountability and grass-roots control.
- The mandate of these bodies to be clear so that accountability and grass-roots control can be further enhanced.
We wish to provide the Party with structures for the 21st century. We want to do this in a simpler, coherent manner, where the bodies and the individuals who sit on these bodies are given clear mandates and are held accountable for decisions taken.
Smaller Bodies Rooted in Reality
It is in this context that we propose the following changes to the composition of Officers, Executive and Council, ensuring that the four major 'stake-holders' - members with federal roots - are represented.
Officers: reduced from 20 to 6.
| Leader | Leader |
| President | President |
| Associate President | Associate President |
| Immediate Past President | Associate President |
| Immediate Past Assoc. Pres. | Treasurer |
| Treasurer | Secretary |
| Secretary | |
| 11 Vice-Presidents | |
| POW Vice-President | |
| NDYC Vice-President |
The Leader, President, Associate Presidents and Treasurer would be elected at Convention, while the Secretary would continue to be named by Council. One Associate President spot would continue to be held by a person of the gender and official language other than those of the President, while the second Associate President spot would be reserved for someone representing the Party's partnership with Labour.
Executive: reduced from 37 to 24
| Officers (20) | Officers (6) |
| 17 members, elected by and from Council | 2 Labour representatives |
|
1 representative each from POW, NDYC, Visible Minority Cttee, Aboriginal Cttee, and Caucus |
Ten of the eleven regional representatives would be divided equally among the five regions: BC and the Yukon, the Prairies and the Western Arctic, Ontario, Quebec and the EasternArctic, and the Atlantic. Gender parity would be required within each regions' representation.
The North, taken as a whole, would be assured of one spot on Executive. The Northern caucus at Convention would choose from the Yukon and NWT riding representatives on Federal Council to sit on Executive.
Gender parity would also be required within the Labour representation. Executive members would be elected by their respective caucus at Convention, and then submitted to the entire Convention for ratification. In the case of the four committees, the representative on Executive would also act as Chair of the committee. Lastly, the Chair of the Election Planning Committee would be an ex-officio member of Executive.
Council: reduced from 204 to 105
| Officers (20) | Officers and Executive (24) |
| 20 elected at Convention | 23 from federal ridings |
| 6 Caucus reps | 24 Prov./Terr. Table Officers |
| 50 from Councils of Federal Ridings. | 16 Labour reps |
| 12 Prov/Terr. Leaders | 5 regional POW reps24 Prov./Terr. Table Officers |
| 24 elected at Prov/Terr. Conventions | 5 regional NDYC reps |
| 15 Labour reps | 2 NDYC Table Officers |
| 12 Prov./Terr. POW reps | 1 Visible Minority Cttee rep |
| 12 Prov./Terr. NDYC reps | 1 Aboriginal Cttee rep |
| 4 NDYC Table Officers | 2 Caucus reps |
| 5 co-opted by Council. | 3 co-opted by Counci |
The 23 federal riding representatives would be allotted along provincial/ territorial lines and weighted by membership. According to the formula we propose, the entitlements would be as follows: Saskatchewan would get five spots, BC and Ontario would get four spots each, Manitoba would get two, while the Yukon, the NWT, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island would all get one each.
Gender parity would be required for provincial delegations of more than one, as well as the regional delegations from the North and the Atlantic.
Councils of Federal Ridings could continue to exist where they adhered to Article X, Section 5 of the Constitution, and where federal ridings continued to deem them to be playing a useful role. The Federal Party would not provide funding for such voluntary structures, as money saved in the streamlining of these bodies would be redirected to providing ongoing organizational assistance to federal ridings. Existing CFRs would carry out the election of federal riding reps on Council. Where no CFR exists, the Federal Party would work with federal ridings to devise a mechanism for the election of Federal Council delegates.
Sectional Executives or Councils would choose the two Table Officers from each Section that would sit on Federal Council. Gender parity would be required from each Section.
The 16 Labour representatives would be elected by the Labour caucus at Convention and submitted to the entire Convention for ratification. Gender parity would be required.
POW - as the only constitutionally recognized committee - and the NDYC - as the only non-provincial/territorial constitutionally recognized section - would be granted 5 spots each, to be allotted along regional lines. As with the Labour representatives, the respective caucuses at Convention would elect the representatives and submit them to the entire Convention for ratification. In addition, two NDYC Table Officers would sit on Council. At least four of the eight NDYC representatives on Executive and Council would have to be women.
The Visible Minority Committee and the Aboriginal Committee would also elect their representatives in this fashion and submit them to Convention. To ensure gender parity, the Council representative from each of these groups would be required to be of the gender other than that of the Chair that sits on Executive. One of the two Caucus reps on Council would have to be a woman.
Council would also reflect the racial diversity of Canada through the implementation of affirmative action guidelines to ensure the fair representation of visible minorities among labour, regional and federal riding representation.
Lastly, Council could, if it so wished, co-opt up to three additional members. At least two of these co-opts would have to be women. These positions would be reserved for chairs of task oriented committees - such as Renewal, the EPC and the Policy Review Committee.
By constitutionalizing gender parity at all levels of Council, our proposal ensures that at least 52 of the 105 members will be women. The current composition only ensures that 68 of the 204 members will be women.
Clear Mandates and Real Accountability
We propose to move away from Officers, Executive and Council holding successive meetings, repeating the same discussions.
Officers would no longer meet regularly and would have as its mandate the following three tasks: prepare agendas for Executive and Council, oversee the Party's administration and finances, and meet to deal with emergencies.
Executive would receive administrative and financial reports from Officers, establish annual goals and objectives for the Party and oversee election planning. The Executive would form the basis of the EPC and Council could choose to add members to the EPC if it so wished.
Council would do two things: receive and review reports from Officers and Executive while devoting the majority of its time to policy development. The Constitution speaks of Council's authority to 'issue policy statements consonant with the decisions of Convention', and 'initiate policy statements consonant with the philosophy of the Party in matters not yet considered by Convention'. It is by living up to these mandates that we feel that the volunteer time and energies of Council members can be best maximized.
Accountability is a two-way street; it must work 'top-down' and 'bottom- up'.
While we believe that the proposed changes to the composition and mandates of these decision making bodies helps root them in reality and bring them closer to the grass-roots, more needs to be done. Federal Office should send out agendas and documents that highlight important upcoming discussions so that members are aware of what to expect at the meetings. Federal Office should also send out written reports of decisions taken at these meetings to all riding association presidents, committees and national Labour office.
But for real accountability to exist, the sentiment of the grass-roots must also be reflected in these discussions. Individual members of Council represent constituencies. It becomes their responsibility to ensure that the come to meetings having consulted the people they represent.
The Party's grass-roots will feel that they have ownership of the decision making bodies only when they are consulted prior to decisions being taken.
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