Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP 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