Earlier, we reported British Columbia's federal Liberals invited a number of potential party leadership candidates to attend this weekend's president's council meeting. And, according to an email sent to council members today, former cabinet minister Stephane Dion has taken the Lotuslanders up on their offer. That message, which was authored by British Columbia party president Jamie Elmhirst, also notes there will be two executive motions coming up for debate at said meeting: one raising membership fees from $10 to $20 and the other increasing the number of membership forms available to party members. The following is a complete copy of that email, which was leaked to Public Eye.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jamie Elmhirst
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 8:40 AM
Subject: Federal Liberal Council - Executive Resolutions

Hello everyone:

I hope and trust that all of you are doing well. I wanted to alert you to two executive motions that you will be asked to consider this weekend at Federal Liberal Council. Both pertain to membership.

The executive is proposing the rule that limits individual party members to five membership forms at any one time be relaxed to ten memberships. We want to ensure that in this time of renewal and leadership, people have fair and open access to forms. However, we do not want to repeat past mistakes that called into question the validity of our membership process with the media, the public and party members. I think this motion strikes an appropriate balance. It demonstrates openness, but also shows that we intend to continue to safeguard the integrity of our membership process.

The executive is proposing that membership fees rise from $5 to $10 for youth and from $10 to $20 for senior party members. This reflects a widespread desire I have heard over time to place a higher value on a Liberal party card. It is also, frankly, a much needed response to the significant drop in revenue the party will receive as a result of a big drop in per vote dollars through Elections Canada. Kim Haakstad and Guy Heywood will provide more detail on the party financial situation on Saturday.

If you have questions or concerns about this or any other subject, please feel free to get in touch. I look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday. We are in the final stages of arranging a visit from Stephane Dion to President's Council. Dion is considered someone likely to seek the leadership of the party. Others were invited. Ken Dryden tried to make it, but will instead visit BC later in March. Details of that to follow.

We are actively inviting prospective leadership candidates to come to BC so that folks here can look them in the eye, ask them tough questions, and begin to develop a sense of who they support.

A copy of my blog for this week - which will go out to the general membership tomorrow - is attached.

Thanks,

Jamie

March 1, 2006

Dear fellow Liberals:

My humble apologies to all for not producing an update last week. It was a busy one for me and I'm a little behind the times. This coming Saturday, March 4th riding presidents, caucus members, past candidates and members of the provincial and national executive of the Liberal Party of Canada will gather in Vancouver for our first Federal Liberal Council meeting of 2006 and the first since the federal election. There will be quite a jam packed agenda as we look back on the campaign and forward into the future.

For those of you not familiar with the Federal Liberal Council (FLC), it is comprised - as mentioned above - by the president's of our 36 Liberal riding associations in BC. Members of the provincial executive, party staff, BC members of the national executive and caucus members also commonly attend. Federal Liberal Council is designed to give voice to the grassroots of the party from around the province and to allow all of us to come together four times a year to plan for a stronger and more successful Liberal Party in British Columbia.

Guests and observers are welcome at FLC meetings and this weekend is no exception. Any party member interested in attending can find out how by following this link:

http://www.teambc.ca/cgi-bin/new_news.pl?newsID=419

The party executive is putting two motions before the Council for ratification. Both pertain to membership rules. First, in light of the leadership process we are entering into and reflecting our desire for a fair and open process, the party executive is recommending that the number of membership forms available to individual party members at any time be doubled from five to ten. We believe that this is a balanced response to concerns about availability, but still allows us to safeguard our membership process against abuse. Forms also cost money to print and handing out hundreds or thousands at a time when many are never returned completed is wasteful. When people have signed up ten new members and sent the forms to headquarters in Vancouver they can immediately get ten more.

Secondly, the party executive is recommending that membership fees for youth move from $5 to $10 dollars per year and for other party members from $10 to $20 per year. This, we believe, is reflective of a desire in the party to place a higher value on a Liberal Party membership card. It also is designed to at least partially recoup funds that will be lost due to a drop in our per vote money from Elections Canada so that the party office can continue to deliver a high level of service to ridings and party members. We do not believe it creates a barrier in any way to those who are committed to joining and remaining members of the party over the long term.

The Liberal Party of Canada centrally is also in the process of designing a new national membership registry that will, for the first time, allow new members to join the party online. It will require the use of a personal credit card to provide proof that the person joining the party is also the person paying. This is expected to roll out over the next several months.

All of this is designed to demonstrate two things: that we are an open party ready to embrace the future and new party members, but also that we maintain high standards and practices to safeguard our processes and the value of Liberal party membership.

If you have thoughts about these motions or questions about Federal Liberal Council, please let me know.

Until next time,

Jamie Elmhirst, President

Liberal Party of Canada (BC)