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“Liberals,” she went on, “are coming out of our biennial convention with wind in our sails. A new constitution. A more open Liberal Party that has opened its doors wide to Canadians. And William, you are the heart of our movement. I can’t thank you enough.”

I have to confess I’m not actually at the heart of the Liberal movement. I did consider voting for their candidate in my riding, Marc Garneau. How often do you have a chance to vote for a guy who, three times, strapped himself atop 18 stories of high explosives and blasted into space? But in the end my vote went elsewhere. I did make a small donation — the only size Quebec law allows — to the Quebec Liberal Party for its campaign against then Parti Québécois premier Pauline Marois and her fist-pumping sidekick, Pierre Karl Péladeau. I assume my e-mail address somehow subsequently made its way to the federal party’s data bank.

The weekend convention that so energized Mme. Grégoire Trudeau’s husband also changed the Liberal party’s constitution. One of the biggest changes is that membership is now free. Not that it had cost a lot before, just $10. But now Canadians who want to express their passion for Liberalism can do so simply by registering. This is being pitched as a great leap toward inclusiveness but, really, are things so tough, even in a Canada slowly recovering from Harper, that people can’t afford $10? If I were a Liberal party member, rather than simply a passive recipient of its email, I’d be annoyed that membership is now available to any Tom, Dick or Harriet whose sole expression of love for the party and its ideas is to fill out an online form. Membership has its privileges, yes, but has it no obligations at all?