By Diane Gilhula
By the latest count 1,130 Sudburians have joined or renewed their membership in the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, and are now eligible to choose a new leader - and a new premier March 23.
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Alex McGregor |
"We are very proud of our one-member, one-vote system," says party president Rueben Devlin.
"Combined with our equal weighting of each of the 103 ridings, we are ensuring that our party's next leader and our province's next premier is being chosen in the most democratic manner possible."
The Ontario PC Party was the first political party in the country to choose a leader in this manner. Mike Harris was elected leader using this process in 1990.
"It's an extremely democratic process," says former federal Tory candidate Alex McGregor.
Every member of the PC party across the province, as of Feb. 21, will have a vote, he says.
McGregor explains people whose name appears on the final voters list will receive a "vote card" verifying they are in fact eligible to vote and confirming the polling place at which they cast their ballots.
To vote in the leadership election, a person must also be a member of the Conservative Party in good standing, and must be a least 14 years old.
McGregor also explains that each riding is given an equal weight irregardless of its population.
"The northern votes, which are smaller in numbers, have the same weight as the 905, or the 416 areas, so we are not swamped by the Toronto vote."
Each electoral district will be worth 100 "riding votes," with the count based exactly on the percentage of votes each candidate receives in the riding.
PC members have the choice to attend the leadership convention in Toronto or to vote locally.
Four vote tabulators - two for each of the local ridings - will be installed locally to count the votes of those who have a vote but are not attending the leadership convention. All four machines will be set up in the upper ballroom of the Ramada Inn.
As there are 103 votes electoral districts across Ontario, the winning vote total for the election will be 5,151 riding votes.
The breakdown for the local vote for the Ontario PC leader is 660 voters in the riding of Sudbury, and 470 in the Nickel Belt riding. There are a total of about nine thousand voters across northern Ontario, and 104,00 voters across the province. The PC Party meets March 21-24 in Toronto to choose a new leader from the five declared candidates - Ernie Eves, Jim Flaherty, Tony Clement, Elizabeth Witmer and Chris Stockwell.
