Some readers may have recently read that the Liberals are planning to contest all 308 seats in the next federal election. Others may be aware that Howard Dean has helped lead the US Democratic Party to victory in the recent mid-term elections using a 50-state strategy that aims to build up the infrastructure of the party in every precinct nationwide.

The idea behind these strategies applies doubly to the GPC. Our growth to date is attributable in large part to our success in running 308 candidates in the last two elections. Granted, many of our candidates didn't fare that well. But one of our primary objectives in running 308 candidates has been to raise awareness about the party and our policies, and in that respect I think we have been successful. We have been noticed by most Canadians, a necessary first step in building any organization, and many of those Canadians are starting to understand and trust us.

The next step for the party is to solidify this public understanding and trust, and this needs to be done on a national basis. In my opinion, a risk to our continued growth is that the central party will succumb to the desire to focus our resources in a few ridings by implementing a "beachhead" strategy to try to get someone elected soon, rather than implementing an "equitable distribution" strategy that aims to build the party nation-wide.

First, let's consider the arguments against the beachhead strategy:

1.  Although the beachhead strategy can and does achieve success relative to our past efforts, we are not yet able to get someone elected. It has been tried on three occasions that I know of: in Saanich-Gulf Islands in the 2004 federal election (Andrew Lewis won 18%); in Powell River-Sunshine Coast in the 2005 BC provincial election (Adriane Carr won 25%); and in London North Centre in the 2006 federal by-election (Elizabeth May won 25%). To surpass the 25% hurdle in most ridings I believe voters in that riding will need to see that we have a strong party across the nation.

2.  A failed beachhead strategy looks bad in the media, and too many failed beachhead attempts will start to raise doubts in the minds of voters that we can ever win. A better message to send out is that yes, we can and will win, but our primary focus for the next couple of years is our national growth.

3.  Since we don't currently have the resources to establish very many beachheads, it will be a fairly small matter for the other parties to divert resources to counter us once they realize what we are trying to do. The party doesn't yet have the experience of running a campaign where our candidate is at or near the lead for most of the campaign, and I suspect this will put us at a disadvantage when our candidate becomes a target.

Now consider the following arguments in support of an equitable distribution strategy:

1.  We are accelerating the rate at which we attract highly qualified new people to the party and we don't necessary know where our strengths lie. To focus too much in one area will lessen the support that we can provide these newer individuals when they first get involved. A minimal amount of support for new members can go a long way.

2.  Many of our policies have a national appeal and, unlike the other parties, we don't have decades of regional prejudices working to our disadvantage. We have the potential for strength everywhere and anywhere.

3.  In many cases our policies will significantly impact and change Canadian society, the economy, and so on. If and when we elect a few MPs we will still need broad-based support to help us educate voters about why the changes we are proposing are necessary.  We will also need help defending the party against the attacks of those who stand to benefit from maintaining the status quo. We are still several years away from having the membership base and riding-level EDA infrastructures in place that will allow us to do this.

4.  If and when proportional representation is ever implemented federally then the GPC will be far better off if we work to build nationally. Consider that an increase from (say) 5% to 10% across the country represents about 700,000 votes, but an increase from (say) 10% to 40% in a single riding represents only about 15,000 votes.

5.  It is a rare day that I don't read about the way the charisma and dynamism of Elizabeth May is attracting Canadians to the party. Her ability to get our message out is astounding, and the rest of the party needs to play catch-up: we need to add depth to our policy; we need more riding-level representatives to respond to questions reporters and voters have; we need to improve a central party infrastructure that is creaking under the weight of our rapid growth. These broad-based activities need to take priority to ensure that the party can back up Elizabeth's message.

In the last federal election we won 4.5% and had about 10 ridings over 10%. If and when we win 10% my guesstimate is that we should have about 20 ridings over 20%. When this happens we can revisit the idea of directing extra resources to a few riding-specific beachheads, but, in my opinion, it should not be done before that time. Instead, the party should continue to focus on building regional infrastructures that can support the campaigns of several candidates, until such a time as any one candidate and campaign can step up and run things on their own.

In one sense the next couple of years will be a proving ground for our candidates.  That is, those candidates who have the ability to create a team and be successful without a lot of hand-holding are the ones who will have (a) shown that they will use any resources provided by the central party effectively and (b) shown that they are capable of performing well when their profiles are raised on the national stage.

The GPC can and will elect someone at any time (no-one should underestimate Elizabeth in particular). When it happens, it will be a major milestone and accomplishment. By casting a wide net now we can help to ensure that there will be a wave of qualified candidate-MPs waiting in the wings to join her in Parliament.

This is one of a series of articles examining how to fix key problems facing the GPC.