Former leadership candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, Tanya Granic Allen, has said that the PC party’s decision to do away with delegates at its upcoming convention is an attempt to ignore the democratic process.
“We had a proper, delegated, policy convention last year, where many policies were proposed and from what I understand, some on the executive and perhaps (Ontario Premier Doug) Ford himself didn’t like the outcome of that democratic process, so they are trying to ignore the process altogether,” Granic Allen told True North.
According to a December 2, 2019 email sent out to party members, the PC Party of Ontario will not be requiring people to be elected as delegates to vote at the Feb. 21-22 policy conference in Niagara Falls.
“This year, you are not required to be elected as a delegate by your local riding association. If you’re a member, you’re eligible to attend. It’s that simple,” wrote conference co-chair Patrick Harris.
Harris and other party officials did not respond to inquiries from True North.
During the last policy convention in November 2018, the party passed a number of socially conservative policy resolutions, including one proposed by Granic Allen to recognize gender identity theory as a “highly controversial, liberal ideology” and to remove it from provincial school curricula.
While it resolutions passed at policy conventions become official party policy, neither PC MPPs nor the government are required to introduce them as legislation.
PC members at the upcoming convention are expected to vote on whether the resolution is binding.
