Ahead to the Past: The Return of the Delegated Leadership Convention

Abstract

The paper examines the leadership convention held by the Nova Scotia Conservatives in 2006. Based on a survey of delegates to that convention as well as elite interviews, the paper examines the rationale for the party's retreat from the universal ballot. Examination of the process is focused on the rationale offered by the party, namely to have a more fair, equal, and exciting process. Following a discussion of each of these issues, the paper concludes that the party fell short on its own measures and the retreat from a universal ballot was far from strategic.