Tories Reject Proposed Leadership Change

The polarizing proposal would have given bigger ridings more say in choosing a new party leader.

Conservative delegates have struck down a controversial proposal to give bigger ridings more clout in choosing a party leader. At the party's convention in Ottawa on Saturday, supporters of the current system successfully buried the new proposal despite the required 100 signatures from 100 ridings collected by the motion's author, MP Scott Reid. The rejection followed a heated debate that pitted senior Tories, like Defence Minister Peter MacKay, against Reid and other high-profile Conservatives. However, the delegates also rejected a proposal that would preserve riding equality in the party's constitution, making it possible for the same debate to reappear at the next convention in two years.