Glen Pearson is the Liberal MP for London-North-Centre and is an avid blogger. He has some criticisms of the modern Liberal Party of Canada. I think he’s onto something. Here are some of his quotes:

“Like it or not, today’s Liberal Party is often viewed as elitist, out of touch with daily pressures of average people and groups.”

Michael Ignatieff is currently in China, getting in touch with the lives of everyday Canadians.

“Gone are the days when the Liberal Party could attract candidates from unions, social agencies, environmental groups, anti-poverty advocates, and even small business associations. This hurts, but it’s true.”

Three Liberal candidates have quit in the past month.

“[T]oday’s Liberal Party spends an inordinate amount of time talking about institutional politics and policy as opposed to the key role of the citizen as an agent of progress.”

Indeed, it’s more difficult to attract candidates when the reality of forming government seems too distant, but you need to attract candidates that are in it to make the individual lives of citizens better, not for a retirement plum or for a chauffeured car.

“One of our key weaknesses as a national party at present is our distance – physical, emotional, empathetic – from the average lives of citizens.”

Is it a problem of leadership? Of abandoning rural Canada and their concerns?

Is Pearson right? What do you believe plagues the Liberal Party of Canada?