Commentary
On March 9, the Liberal Party of Canada will select a leader to become the country’s next prime minister. Fewer than 1 percent of Canadians will cast a ballot in the leadership race, as roughly 400,000 people registered to vote. It sounds undemocratic, but it’s the nature of Canada’s system in that parties select who will be the head of the government rather than voters at large.
With registration to vote in the contest being free and open to all Canadian citizens, the number of people taking advantage of the opportunity to vote is distressingly low.
The candidates have a short, tough campaign ahead of them. First, they must convince those who registered to vote that they are the best person for the job. Then the winner will probably have a very short period in office as the prime minister before facing Canadians in a general election….