Rural-Urban Rift Opens Among Conservatives

A debate on the rules of succession exposes a divide within the ruling party.

More than 2,000 Conservative Party delegates are meeting in Ottawa Saturday to vote on a number of policy resolutions, including a major reform to how the party will choose its next leader. A proposal by Ontario MP Scott Reid would give bigger riding associations more weight in a leadership race. Currently, each riding association is awarded 100 points in a leadership vote, no matter how many members it has, which get divided based on how the association members vote. Reid's plan calls for a 100-point base, plus one point assigned for each member over 100, but with a 400-point cap. Theoretically, a system that awards bigger ridings more weight would favour leadership candidates from Ontario and western Canada. It would also favour urban and suburban areas over rural ones, pitting the party's traditional rural base against its new constituencies in suburbs and cities. The plan, which goes to a vote Saturday, is largely opposed by delegates from smaller riding associations.