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In 1988 Liberal leader John Turner recruited a star candidate to carry the party’s banner in the then-riding of Scarborough West. Patrick Johnston was a celebrated policy expert with an impressive resume of accomplishments and close ties to David Peterson’s powerful Queen’s Park Liberals. He would have been a spectacular member of Parliament and likely cabinet minister had Turner won that general election.

But there was a hitch. Before Johnston could compete to win the riding, he first had to secure his own party’s nomination.

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Given the blessing from on high, that might have seemed a cinch except that the ‘open nomination’ process Turner had created meant that others were also free to organize – and they did. A pro-life group called Campaign Life went to work for anti-choice lawyer Tom Wappel. Johnston lost, despite being seen as the leader’s favourite.

Roll the clock forward 26 years and shift your gaze to the riding of Don Valley North. This summer, another young policy whiz was all set to take his party’s nomination with the unstated but clear enthusiasm of Justin Trudeau’s entourage. Unfortunately for Rana Sarkar, like Patrick Johnston before him, a better organized group of local Liberals proved impossible to beat. Another open process that closed the door on a high-profile candidate.