COMPARISON BETWEEEN FEDERAL PARTY CONSTITUTIONS

	Liberal	NDP	CPC	GPC Proposed
Preamble
Mentions Sustainability	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mentions Social Justice	No	Yes	No	Yes
International Responsibility	“preservation of Canadian identity in global society”	No	To other nations	To other Green Parties
Mentions Incorporated Fund	Yes	No	Yes	No
Ethics and Integrity	No	No	Yes	No
Standing Constitutional Review Committee	Yes	No	Yes. Secretary (officer) runs both constitutional review committee and membership	No
Standing Policy Committee	Yes	No	Yes	Yes (Shadow Cabinet)
Equal participation of women	Yes	Yes	No	No
EDA Council/President’s Forum	No	Yes EDAs have provincial councils and Reps on Executive	Yes	No
Incorporated Fund	Specified as “Federal Liberal Agency”. CFO of the Party is appointed by the National Executive	Not mentioned.	Specified as “Conservative Fund of Canada” as the Chief Agent of the Party. .Directors not allowed to be on both Council and Fund; liaison committee with equal members from each entity; Fund is “Management Committee”	Not mentioned
Affiliated Organizations	Yes internal tho (women’s commission etc.(	Yes – unions and NGOs	Yes	No
EDAs	Must encourage and enable	Riding Council at the provincial level	Ruled by National Council; Area where members exercise their rights and membership	Federal Council may appoint a financial agent for any EDA
De-register EDAs	No	No	National Council can; Set by by-law	Yes
Council must Co-ordinate Fundraising with EDAs	No	No	Yes	No
Financial relationship		Not specified	Can seize assets;Council must provide financial reports	Council may levy fees from EDAs for “essential activities”
Indemnification of Party liability for member breaches	No	No	Yes;	No
Provincial Associations	Yes: prime organizational unit	Yes: prime organizational unit	None	Yes
Membership
Expel Members	Provincial Associations with recourse to Committee of Appeals	Provincial Associations with recourse to Federal Council	2/3 Council with recourse to Arbitration Commiteee	Member can be expelled, but no procedure
Minimum Age	14	none	14	16 for voting ; 12-16 non-voting Youth member
Non-discrimination	Yes	Yes	No	No
Forbids members of other Parties	Yes	Yes	No except for the national executive	Yes
Access to local membership list for EDAs	Yes	No	No	No
Fairness and Equity across the Party	Yes	No	No	No
Provincial Associations	Yes	Yes	None	Yes
Right of hearing and appeal	Yes	No	Yes	No
Correct Imbalances of Women and Men on Committees	Yes	Yes	No	No
Revenue Sharing	Yes	Not mentioned	No	No
Youth Wing	Yes	Yes	No; Council mandated to encourage youth, though	Nothing
Lesbian and Gay Committee	N o	Yes	No	No
Women’s Commission	Yes	Yes	No	No
Aboriginal Commission	Yes	Yes	No	No
Senior Citizen’s Commission	Yes	No	No	No
Federal Council/National Executive
Bilingual Officers	Yes	Yes	No	No
Representation by regions not Provinces	Yes 6 regions	Yes 10 regions	Yes	Yes
Women represented	Yes 7 members from Women’s Commission	Yes on Executive	No	No
Youth represented	Yes 6 members	Yes	No	No
Can Add By-Laws	No	No	Yes; 99 EDAs can overrule	No
Publish Minutes	Yes	No	To EDAs within 30 days	No
Voting Procedure	Yes	None specified	Secret Ballot	No
Seniors Represented	Yes 5	Yes	No	No
Policy Represented	Yes	No	No	Yes
Campaign Committee Represented		No	No	No
Mentions Elections Act	Yes	No	Yes	No
Quorum	10/42	4/6officers; 10/25 members of the Executive; one-third of /54Federal Council	Specified by bylaw	6/23
Fill vacant positions	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Functionary Positions	Yes elected as such	Yes elected as such	Appointed from within	Appointed
Provide Financial Records to EDAs or PAs	Yes	no	Yes	No
Aboriginal Represented	Yes 4	Yes	No	No
Meeting Frequency	3 x year		Quarterly, or at the request of 5 members
Removal of Officer	No process specified	Discipline Committees at provincial and Federal Council level	“unbecoming or improper conduct” 2/3 vote; suspension allowed for same; Arbitration Committee has final say	Council may remove a member with ¾ vote. No reason is needed
Powers over Candidate Selection	Campaign Committee, with Permanent Appeals	Yes, but only with due notification and hearing process	Can overrule EDA, can either trump or involve Arbitration Committee	Can overrule EDA candidate without reason
Election of Party Officers	54 (8 non-voting)	5 elected plus Secretary appointed (Secretary is CEO)	14 are elected by region	13 (bylaws)
Number of required nominees for officers	25	n/a	Not applicable	5
Nomination Committee	Yes	No	No	No
Management Committee	17 membersLeader, CFO, President (Chair) Women’s Rep, Seniors Rep, Aboriginal Rep, regional reps	NPD has 3-tiered governance; Officers (6) Executive (25) Federal Council (~45)	Conservative Fund	4 members plus non-voting Executive Director
Mgmt. Meeting Frequency	Every 3 months	2 x for Council, 3 x for Executive, anytime for officers		Not specified
Transparency	Regional Reps must have access to National Executive Meetings	No	EDAs get minutes withing 30 days	None specifiied
Policy Committee	Yes	No	Not	Yes ex-officio
Diverse Representation	Yes	Yes	No	No
Constitution Committee representation	Yes	No	No	No
Mandatory Lawyer representation	Yes	No	No	No
Multi-culturalism Committee representations	Yes	Yes	No	No
Chief Financial Officer	Appointed	None specified	CFO of the Conservative Fund	Not required
Annual Report to Members	Yes	none	Yes to EDAs	No
Ombuds Committee	Yes. Permanent Appeals Committee	Nothing beyond Federal Council	Yes Arbitration Committee appointed by Council	No
General Meeting /Convention
Notice Required	90 days	150 days	90 days	60
Delegate System	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Frequency	2 years	Every 2 years	2 years + 9mos. If there is an election	Every 2 years
Membership Voting Cut-Off for General Meetings	90 days	120 days or end of last calendar year, whichever is greater	21 days	Not specified
Notice for Resolutions	2 weeks to EDAs	60 days	Refers to the bylaws	Not specified
Rules of Procedure Specified	No	Yes	No	Not specified
Youth	Lower Youth Fee for Youth Commission	1 youth delegate per EDA, and 1 delegate per 50 members	1 Youth representative is mandatory	No mandatory representation
Open to all members	No	No	Yes	Yes
Constitutional Amendments	Only at Convention with 2/3 majority	2/3 majority vote at Convention	Majority, only at Convention	2/3 majority at Convention
Constitutional Conflicts	Not allowed	Not specified	Canada Elections Act trumps Constitution; Constitution trumps everything else	None Specified, apart from Constitution trumping bylaws
Leader
Salary	No	n/a	Yes, = to an MP	No
Leader Reports to Members	No	N/a	Quarterly Report	None required
Leader Election	Delegate System	Delegate system, preferential ballot	By review only, 50% threshold in general meeting; one member one vote, plus EDA has 100 votes; single transferable ballot	No elections procedures specified
Provisions for Referenda	No	No	Yes	No