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leadership convention
DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)
n. — Politics
a convention held by a political party in order to elect a new leader.
Type: 5. Frequency — Leadership convention is by far most frequent in Canada, where it is the established term (see Chart 1). The term may be Canadian in origin as well, as the earliest recorded usage is Canadian (see the 1903 quotation). In the US, similar occurrences are called "national conventions", e.g. the Democratic National Convention.
According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, the first national leadership convention was held in 1919 (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference), but the 1903 quotation shows that this system was already operating on a provincial or regional level at that time, at least in British Columbia.
See also COD-2, s.v. "leadership convention", which is marked "Cdn".
See also COD-2, s.v. "leadership convention", which is marked "Cdn".
Quotations
1903
Of course there was no sectional feeling in the Liberal leadership convention last night; no, not a scrap. They, first of all, elected the one man who is fit to lead their party, but, finding that he represented an Island constituency, they concluded to give the Mainland a look in next ballot, when, lo and behold, Mainland was IT.
1935
It is to be hoped, therefore, that when the leadership convention is over the Conservative Party will have found those qualities in the Leader of its choice.
1957
The National Liberal Federation will probably hold its leadership convention on January 27 in Ottawa.
1976
The real loser of the Tory leadership convention last weekend was Paul Hellyer - a former politician and journalist.
1999
Joy MacPhail, the former finance minister who entered the leadership race last month, called for a meeting of leadership hopefuls and NDP brass to "ensure that bulk membership sales play no part in determining the number of delegates to the upcoming leadership convention."
References
- COD-2
- Canadian Encyclopedia • "Leadership Convention"
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