Local Liberals announce a new era in Dufferin-Caledon

April 29, 2016 · 0 Comments

Last week, the Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association held their Annual General Meeting and installed a new Executive Committee led by incoming president, Lynda Kee.

In her acceptance speech, Kee announced a new era for Liberals in the riding, which will focus outward to the membership and be open to the general population, organizing policy debates and bringing in notable politicians and opinion leaders to lead interactive discussions.

Kee said she expects most of these debates and discussions will result in motions which, with the consensus of the participants, will be presented to the party and government for consideration.

Most of these debates will focus on subjects where the government is looking for input, for example the intended change to the electoral system from first past the post ballots to a more consensual process.

Kee also noted that there is a motion, actively supported by Justin Trudeau and Party leadership, to eliminate Liberal membership fees and to open the Party not just to card carrying members, but supporters as had been done for the leadership race won by Trudeau himself.

Last week, in an email broadcast to the Liberal membership promoting this motion, Trudeau opened with “…imagine building a Liberal movement that is more open, unified, innovative, and engaging than ever before.”

Kee noted the membership activity plans going forward for the riding association were very much in keeping with Trudeau’s goals.

The guest speaker at the AGM was Ed Crewson, who ran as the Liberal candidate in the election last year.

In the 2015 election, Mr. Crewson tripled the Liberal vote share and had four times the number of voters come out in his support compared to the previous election.

Mr. Crewson thanked the people who worked so hard on his campaign which he said was the most exciting year of his life.

Crewson declared his intention to run again in the next election and “with the support of the Liberal membership, we’ll paint Dufferin-Caledon red!”