Letters to the Editor: Was the Beaches-East York federal Liberal nomination open or was it a de facto appointment?

When I was 12 years old, my father took me to my first political meeting. I don’t remember the speeches or the policies being debated. What I remember was the sense of community. Neighbours volunteered because they believed they could make a difference. They believed ordinary people had a voice in choosing who would represent them.

My father, Piara Singh Pannu, grew up in poverty in rural India before working for the Indian government. Like so many immigrants, he came to Canada to build a better life for his family. Canada gave him opportunities he could never have imagined, and he never forgot it. Politics, for him, was never about power. It was about service.

He became active in the Liberal Party and later served as president of the Bramalea–Gore–Malton riding association. Although he eventually stepped away from politics to raise our family, he never stepped away from the values that drew him there. I still remember the pride he felt helping elect Gurbax Malhi, Canada’s first turbaned Member of Parliament. More importantly, I remember what he taught me. Democracy was not simply about voting every four years. It was about ordinary people having a fair opportunity to participate, compete openly and earn the trust of their neighbours.

Those lessons have stayed with me throughout my life. Today, I am a lawyer for a Canadian energy company. Outside of my profession, public service has always been central to who I am.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I helped co-found Conquer COVID-19, a grassroots initiative that raised more than $2.25 million and distributed over three million surgical masks to hospitals, shelters, food banks and frontline organizations across Canada, including organizations serving families here in Beaches–East York. I later helped launch This Is Our Shot, working alongside Peel Public Health and community partners to improve vaccine accessibility in communities hit hardest by COVID-19. More recently, I helped establish a mentorship program for Black and Indigenous law students that has since expanded across North America.

I don’t share these experiences because they make me more deserving than anyone else. I share them because they explain why I wanted to serve. I love this community. I love this country. Like many residents, I care deeply about housing affordability, the rising cost of living, artificial intelligence, energy, climate change and ensuring that the next generation has even greater opportunities than my family did.

Earlier this year, when Beaches-East York Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith announced his intention to seek election in another riding, I began trying to understand the nomination process. Like many others, I wanted to know how someone could put their name forward to serve the community as the federal Liberal candidate for the riding.

There was considerable uncertainty about whether there would even be an open nomination. To Erskine-Smith’s credit, he reportedly encouraged the party to hold an open nomination because Beaches–East York has a long history of civic engagement and deserved the opportunity to choose its own representative. I applauded that decision.

Unfortunately, what followed did not feel to me like an open process. Erskine-Smith formally stepped down on July 7. Two days later, members were notified that the nomination meeting would take place on July 18, leaving prospective candidates just nine days to organize campaigns, meet members and communicate their vision for the riding.

The notice also stated that members had to have joined the Liberal Party by July 7 in order to vote, the very day the vacancy officially arose. Equally concerning was how difficult it was to find information about the nomination itself. Beaches–East York was not listed on the Liberal Party’s nomination webpage, making it difficult for residents to locate information about the process.

An open nomination is about far more than holding a vote. Transparency is not measured by whether a vote eventually takes place. It is measured by whether ordinary members have a genuine opportunity to participate.

Prospective candidates deserve a reasonable opportunity to decide whether to run, organize volunteers, introduce themselves to members and explain why they want to serve. Members deserve time to hear competing ideas, ask questions and determine who is best suited to represent their community. None of that can realistically happen in nine days.

Whether intended or not, a process conducted in this manner inevitably resembled a de facto appointment. When the nomination period lasts only nine days, when information is difficult to locate, when the riding itself is not listed on the nomination webpage, and when the membership deadline coincides with the day the vacancy officially arose, meaningful participation becomes extraordinarily difficult.

Beaches–East York is one of Toronto’s most civically engaged communities. What would have been the harm in allowing a few more weeks? Democracy is rarely weakened by greater participation. It is strengthened by it.

This letter is not about any of the candidates seeking the nomination. They each deserve credit for putting their names forward, and I sincerely wish them well. Nor is it about my own candidacy. It is about protecting confidence in the democratic process.

I also want to be clear that I support Prime Minister Mark Carney’s vision for Canada’s future. In his speech at Davos, he spoke about Canada’s role as a principled middle power at a time when the rules-based international order is under increasing strain. Canada’s influence, he suggested, comes not only from our economic strength, but from our credibility, our integrity and our willingness to live the values we promote.

That is precisely why I struggle to reconcile this process with those same principles. If Canada hopes to lead by example in a world where many countries are turning away from openness, fairness and democratic norms, we should begin by ensuring that nomination processes within our own political parties reflect those same values. The credibility of a middle power rests not simply on what it says abroad, but on whether it lives those values at home.

My father believed Canada was different because ordinary people had the opportunity to participate. He believed democracy was strongest when neighbours could hear different voices, compare different ideas and decide for themselves who had earned their trust.

As I reflected on this process, I found myself thinking about those lessons again. My father never believed democracy was measured by who won. He believed it was measured by whether ordinary people had a fair opportunity to stand before their neighbours, present their ideas and earn their trust.

That is the Canada he believed in. It is the Canada that inspired me to serve. And it is the Canada I hope my children inherit.

Guri Pannu