Leaderless Liberals Getting 200 New Members a Day

While infighting has dominated the party's attempt to find an interim leader, new Liberal memberships are selling like hotcakes.

The Liberal party received this week its first bit of good news since... well, awhile, with the revelation that about 200 people have joined the party each day since the federal election. The surge could be tied to potential leadership candidates shoring up support ahead of an online convention set for June 18 to amend the party's constitution. The current constitution requires that a leadership vote be held within five months of the resignation of a party leader, but many in the reduced Liberal caucus want to delay that until 2012 or 2013 to give the party time to find its footing. The search for an interim leader has also been delayed over frustration with guidelines drawn up by the party's executive that were seen by many as intending to bar Bob Rae and Ralph Goodale from taking over.