“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member,” said Groucho Marx. He wasn’t talking about the Liberal party, of course; as of this weekend, he’d have nothing to worry about anyway.

At the party’s convention in Winnipeg last week, Liberals adopted a new constitution which does away with the concept of ‘membership’ and replaces it with ‘registration’. Anyone can register as a Liberal now, for free. Once you do, you receive newsletters, are entitled to vote in your electoral district association and attend conventions — and can vote in future leadership races.

The Liberals want to morph from party to movement, from club to catch-all. That has serious implications — not just for the LPC but, by ricochet, for all political parties in Canada.

At first blush, the move seems very clever. Political party membership is on the decline, here in Canada and around the world. According to a study by Samara Canada, just nine per cent of Canadians report being a member of a political party. Statistics Canada puts the number at only 4 per cent and reports it varies by income: 7 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 64 who earn $80,000 a year hold party memberships, compared to 3 per cent of those earning $40,000 a year or less. Entry fees, no matter how small, could be construed as a barrier to participation for the less well-off. The Liberals can claim that they’re boosting democratic engagement by opening their doors to all comers.

The Liberals’ move also seems very modern. In the age of Facebook and the ‘sharing economy’, why should political membership require more than a “like”? And why should a voter have to commit to a year-long membership if he or she is only supporting a party for a single election? Political loyalty is becoming a thing of the past. One only has to look south of the border to see the spectacular effect of the rise of independent voters — and the rewards that go to politicians who know how to engage those voters. Making it ‘free’ only makes it easier.

But don’t kid yourself — free membership isn’t free. It comes at a price, and that price is your personal information. In the age of Big Data, your email address is far more valuable than your $10. The Liberal party will engage with you, probe you for your interests, likes and dislikes (Did you sign up for that newsletter on electoral reform? Are you more interested in climate change? Do you have kids? A dog? An iguana?) and mine you for information and money.

The Liberals could end up morphing into not a movement but a chameleon — offering the populist flavour of the moment. And that could lead them to some very strange and uncomfortable places. The Liberals could end up morphing into not a movement but a chameleon — offering the populist flavour of the moment. And that could lead them to some very strange and uncomfortable places.

Since previous governments set lower limits on donations, forbade unions and corporations from giving and eliminated public per-vote subsidies, small donations have become the lifeblood of politics. So the bigger a party’s database, the better positioned it is to fundraise. With ‘free’ membership, the Liberals can offer the ultimate loss-leader in exchange for hundreds of thousands of names. So if you’re a registered Liberal, set your spam filter on high — and brace yourself for a deluge of donation requests.

Whoever controls the data, of course, controls how it’s used. Under the revamped Liberal constitution, control of the data belongs to the leadership, not local associations. That’s probably no accident. In the update to her must-read book Shopping for Votes, iPolitics columnist Susan Delacourt reports that Justin Trudeau was madly excited about the Liberals’ new election database, called the Console. It divides ridings into six types, from winnable to hopeless, and pinpoints how much attention each one is getting (or needs) from volunteers, down to the time of day in individual neighbourhoods.

The Console’s data also tells the party which voters are receptive to which messages. “We knew,” said strategist Dan Arnold, “which types of people would benefit from the Canada Child Benefit, and which types of people would benefit from the middle-class tax cut, and which types of people would benefit from transit investments. Based on that, we’d send direct-mail pamphlets to those areas that were more likely to have parents or more likely to have commuters. There was a bit of that in terms of tailoring the message.”

Data-mining became serious business, and Trudeau took it more seriously than anyone. “Few things made him angrier, for instance,” Delacourt writes, “than to see Liberal volunteers surrounding him at events instead of gathering up contact information.”

The Liberals have caught up to, if not surpassed, the Conservatives in their electoral data-mining abilities. The next step appears to be gathering even more data — and free membership is a great way to do that. It could pay great dividends in the short term — but what about the long term?

While all may be well under the current leader, what happens when Trudeau eventually leaves the job? The potential for a party takeover by a one-issue candidate becomes much greater with free memberships. An outside organization — a labour union, a religious institution, a special interest group, even another political party — could theoretically take over the Liberals by registering enough people to influence the leadership vote process in individual district associations.

And if anyone can attend a convention, even someone with no ongoing relationship with the party, what will that mean for policy development? What will the Liberals stand for, or against, if their principles can be changed with a click or a swipe, by people who won’t pony up $10 to declare their affiliation? Will ‘Liberal’ mean anything, beyond a word on a sign?

In this brave new world, membership no longer will have its privileges. The Liberals could end up morphing into not a movement but a chameleon — offering the populist flavour of the moment. And that could lead them to some very strange and uncomfortable places.

Discount democracy doesn’t mean better democracy. And putting your money where your beliefs are — even if it’s only a few symbolic dollars — still matters.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.