[mobglob-discuss] TRANSFER CAP INCREASED BY BC NDP COUNCIL

[Alan Ward]

Dear Friends,
Following is the Kingsway Report on Recent
BC NDP Council Meeting:
        Transfer Cap / Deregistration / Leadership candidate panel

1) TRANSFER CAP INCREASED FROM 15 TO 25% BY PROV. COUNCIL

The Kingsway Executive is happy 
to report that the BC NDP Provincial Council 
has increased the number of transfer members 
that constituency associations can have.

Kingsway began contacting delegates
on the issue immediately after the 15% transfer cap
was brought in at the end of last year.  
The recent September meeting
of the BC NDP Council voted overwhelmingly
in favour of Cariboo South's resolution
to increase the cap to 25%.

The decision is an excellent one
as the 15% cap made for difficulties 
in a number of constituencies, and 
interfered with the effort of recruiting
new members to the NDP.

Notable among the many delegates who
rose to speak in support of the 25% resolution
were leadership candidates 
Steve Orcherton
and Leonard Krog.

Our thanks go to all members who worked 
tirelessly to achieve this increase in the transfer cap.


DEREGISTRATION

A resolution opposing deregistration
was submitted by Kingsway to Provincial Council
last March.  

Careful examination of the
Elections Act and informal discussions
with Provincial Council delegates and
other party members showed that deregistration
would do serious harm to the party.

The idea of deregistering was brought to Council
with the argument that if constituencies deregister,
those constituencies who have trouble keeping their
books would no longer have to worry.

We are happy to report that at 
the September BC NDP Council meeting,
the Provincial Executive
recommended to postpone any discussion of
deregistration until after the 2005 election.
This recommendation was adopted, 
as was Kingsway's motion to table its
resolution opposing deregistration until
after the 2005 election.

Speaking for the committee in charge of
exploring the matter of deregistration,
Russ Neely, Director of Organization,
stressed that constituencies should have 
no trouble keeping track of their finances 
if they follow prescribed format.

We are pleased that the matter has been
put to rest for the time being.


LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE PANEL

At 4 pm last Saturday the seven
candidates to the leadership of the BC NDP
made presentations and answered questions.
All presentations were articulate.

It is now our job to sort out on our own,
without the "help" of pollsters and opinion 
makers, each candidate's politics.

Kingsway has asked each candidate
to answer the question:  "What do 'left,'
'right,' and 'centre' mean for you?"
The answers will be printed in
Kingsway's upcoming newsletter.

FINANCES

We need money all around.
Constituencies have been urged to fundraise.

CONSTITUENCY REPORTS

A welcome new feature of Provincial Council 
meetings.  New ideas were shared 
and those present were able to get a 
general picture of the efforts being made
to build the BC NDP locally.