The federal Conservatives are poised to soften a controversial membership policy implemented at the start of this year – but the aspect of that policy likely to have the most significant impact on their leadership race, by making it harder for candidates to conduct mass sign-up efforts, will apparently remain on the party's books.

Party president John Walsh told The Globe and Mail on Friday that he will introduce a motion at this weekend's meeting of the Conservatives' national council to drop the party's one-year membership fee back to $15, after it was raised to $25 a few months ago.

That reversal, Mr. Walsh said, is a matter of "being responsive to caucus concerns," after Conservative MPs complained both publicly and privately that the increase was at odds with post-election renewal – particularly at a time when the governing Liberals are set to do away with their party's membership fees altogether.

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There are no indications that Mr. Walsh or anyone else intends to propose a rollback of another major change that accompanied the fee increase: an end to all cash payments for memberships, requiring new recruits to pay with credit cards or personal cheques instead.

Party insiders have previously acknowledged that the no-cash rule, while the subject of less public debate than the fee increase, is of greater potential consequence to the selection of former prime minister Stephen Harper's long-term successor.

That's because it will ensure that when candidates persuade people to take out party memberships to support them, those new members will actually have to pay their own way – something that has not always been a given in past campaigns.

There have long been suggestions, not restricted just to the Conservative Party, that both leadership and riding-level nomination candidates have paid membership fees out of their campaign coffers – simply handing in wads of cash to go with piles of membership forms, with no way of proving where that money came from.

With that option no longer available, the level of commitment required for eligibility to vote in the Conservative leadership race may be considerably higher than it was for past contests, even if the fee is lowered back to $15. Rather than just taking a moment to sign a form when approached by a campaign, new members will have to decide if it's worth going out of their way (and supplying their credit card or banking information) to join.

Because mass sign-ups have tended to happen at religious and community centres, where large numbers of people are assembled, there was some suggestion when The Globe first reported on the no-cash rule that it stood to adversely affect a prospective leadership candidate such as Jason Kenney, who would rely heavily on support from immigrant groups.

Conservatives allied with Mr. Kenney, however, replied that it would actually be rival candidates who lack his support networks in those communities who would struggle to get the levels of commitment they needed. Since then, Mr. Kenney has publicly called for the fee to be reduced but has not broached the issue of how it should be paid.

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To date, the only Conservative caucus member to publicly complain about the no-cash policy has been veteran Alberta MP Deepak Obhrai, who recently suggested to The Huffington Post that it will contribute to the Conservatives being seen as an "elitist and white-only" party.