Liberals, who believe themselves to be Canada's Party of Reason, appear determined to stay the course, even though that course led to a shipwreck in the last election.
Three thousand of them are gathered in the snows of Ottawa: to set policy, elect a new party president and executive, and debate – but not necessarily embrace – change.
"We are the party of reason," interim leader Bob Rae said in an interview Friday, a party that, on any given issue, takes "a balanced, sensible position, a logical position for a government to want to take." It is a party that recognizes that choices "are never either/or choices" – unlike the Conservatives, who he believes are entirely "either," and the NDP, who are entirely "or."
Example: The Harper government is demonizing all opponents of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to the Pacific as foreign-funded radicals. The NDP, Mr. Rae asserts, would imply shut down the oil sands completely.
"We're saying no, the answer is to ensure that development is truly and deeply sustainable," Mr. Rae declared. The Liberals will wait until the National Energy Board concludes its hearings into the proposed route before taking a stand.
In dozens of conversations and discussions with delegates on Friday, what came through was a profoundly conservative embrace of the Liberal legacy. Delegates are angry at the party elites, who they believe have ignored the grassroots – them – impoverishing the party and taking it to the brink of irrelevance.
But Liberals they were born and Liberals they remain. And there appears to be little appetite for fundamental change, either to the party's ideology or structure.
The outgoing executive is proposing that the party change its constitution to permit a new category of "supporters," who would not have to purchase memberships but who could vote for the next leader in a series of regional primaries to be held across the country in 2013. The move is intended, in part, to help revive the 100 or so ridings across the country that are, by the party's own estimate, moribund.
But the questions at the session were mostly hostile. One delegate warned that the proposed reforms would allow the party to be taken over "by a flash mob." Others complained that only members, who paid their money and fought in the trenches, should be entitled to choose the leader.
Since two-thirds of the delegates must support the proposed reforms for them to pass, their prospects appear bleak. The fate of the more radical policy proposals – such as abolishing the monarchy and legalizing marijuana – is harder to discern.
Support for former Chrétien minister Sheila Copps as party president appears strong – though former Ontario party president Mike Crawley's supporters were also highly visible – as does the idea of making Mr. Rae the permanent leader. "Who else is there?" one delegate asked.
Mr. Rae shrugged off, for the umpteenth time, the question of whether he would seek the leadership. The next executive may retain the proscription against the interim leader seeking the permanent job, "which, frankly, is fine with me," he said. If they lift the ban, "I absolutely have not decided" whether he would choose to run.
But if the delegates veto proposals to broaden the base for choosing the new leader, if veterans like Ms. Copps and Mr. Rae dominate its leadership, and if the party is not willing to embrace a philosophy emphatically more to the left or right, then how can it hope to reverse its relentless decline?
"That's way, way too cataclysmic," Mr. Rae retorted. The most important task is "to continue to rebuild the structure of the party and the organizational base of the party."
The faithful, it appears, will leave Ottawa on Sunday – weather permitting – convinced that this is enough.
John Ibbitson