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Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
From: peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley)
Newsgroups: net.politics,can.politics
Subject: Re: Canadian and American systems
Message-ID: <3414@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Mar-84 22:07:50 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.3414
Posted: Thu Mar  1 22:07:50 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 1-Mar-84 22:26:16 EST
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 15

Delegates are chosen by local Liberal riding associations to go to the
national convention to choose a leader.  The delegate selection meetings
are in no particular order, as far as I know, and are on a riding-by-riding
basis, not province-by-province.  So one meeting has much less influence
on the overall picture than in the US.  With the consequence that one does
not get the travelling media circus that seems to follow the primaries.

My fascination was with the apparently disproportionate power given to
New Hampshire and Iowa.  I don't see anything similar in the Canadian
system.  On the other hand, I've never heard of the Americans having 9 year
olds and street people being dragged in to vote at delegate selection meetings
like the Progressive Conservatives had here.  And it's more democratic to
let the population at large elect a candidate, despite all the problems.

p. rowley, U. Toronto