November 13-15, 2008
Winnipeg Convention Centre
Some party members spoke out in advance that proposals were being kept from them, with too much top-down control.
About 2,000 delegates attended, with an $850 registration fee. Lower-than-expected turnout was blamed on fatigue from the federal election just one month prior, Quebec's provincial campaign, a lack of controversial resolutions, and the status of registration fees as political donations.
Resolutions that passed included:
- reducing hate speech powers of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
- additional charges for violence against a pregnant woman (there were questions about whether this reopened the abortion debate)
- dangerous offender status for three serious offences
- repeal of the faint hope clause
- a national securities regulator
- a simplified federal tax code
- a change in party’s description of gender equality.
Delegates rejected a call for more experimentation with private health care. Another attempt to reward larger riding associations with more delegates failed. A resolution to limit Supreme Court appointments to 10 years failed to advance to the plenary floor.
Said Stephen Harper: “We will have to be tough and pragmatic, not unrealistic and ideological, in dealing with the complex economic challenges that confront us.”
