Grassroots

To put the truly astonishing Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal leadership vote into perspective, here is a table of "open" party leadership contests in Canada, both federal and provincial, since the Parti Québécois leadership race of 1985.

These include party leaderships decided by open, one-member-one-vote member- or supporter-based voting, or conventions which were open to all party members. It also includes party leaderships which were geographically weighted one-member-one-vote, but excludes internal party votes for delegated leadership conventions.

Colours follow the traditional partisan colour scheme, with the addition of purple for Quebec sovereigntist parties, and green for non-"Conservative" right-of-centre parties.

The "votes" figure takes the total number of valid votes on the largest ballot (or count, in the cast of preferential ballots.) The per-capita figure expresses the total number of leadership votes in the largest ballot as a percentage of the voters list in the province (or Canada) at the chronologically nearest federal election. (One exception: the 1990 Ontario PC leadership is expressed as a percentage of the 1990 Ontario provincial voters list.)

Since 1985, the average open provincial party leadership has attracted about 1.5% of that province's electors. At 5.8%, as a pure exercise in voter-mobilization, the NL Liberal leadership is a runaway success.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

Despite the wrinkles and gremlins, the NL Liberal Party, and the teams behind the five candidates, deserve full credit for driving this leadership process, which, adjusted for population, is one of the biggest exercises of grassroots party democracy in recent Canadian history.

Party	Jurisdiction	Year	Votes	Per-capita
PC	AB	2006	144,289	6.2%
Liberal	NL	2013	23,873	5.8%
Liberal	PEI	1996	4,329	4.4%
PC	AB	1992	78,251	4.2%
Liberal	PEI	2003	3,969	3.6%
PC	AB	2011	78,176	3.1%
NDP	SK	2001	19,465	2.8%
Liberal	NB	2012	14,672	2.5%
Parti Québécois	QC	1985	96,974	2.1%
Parti Québécois	QC	2005	105,259	1.8%
Liberal	BC	2011	54,879	1.8%
NDP	SK	2009	9,444	1.3%
NDP	SK	2013	8,719	1.2%
PC	MB	2006	9,143	1.1%
Liberal	NS	1992	6,998	1.0%
Bloc Québécois	QC	1997	48,437	0.9%
Wild Rose	AB	2009	16,400	0.7%
PC	NB	2008	4,029	0.7%
NDP	BC	2011	20,016	0.6%
Social Credit	BC	1993	14,833	0.6%
Liberal	AB	1994	11,004	0.6%
PC	ON	2002	44,188	0.6%
Canadian Alliance	Can	2000	120,557	0.6%
Saskatchewan	SK	1998	3,344	0.5%
PC	SK	1994	3,298	0.5%
PC	NS	1995	2,985	0.4%
Conservative	Can	2004	97,397	0.4%
Liberal	Can	2013	104,552	0.4%
Liberal	AB	1998	7,636	0.4%
Canadian Alliance	Can	2002	88,228	0.4%
PC	ON	2004	32,390	0.4%
Liberal	AB	2011	8,640	0.3%
PC	ON	2009	25,429	0.3%
NDP	Can	2002	58,202	0.3%
Liberal	BC	1993	6,540	0.3%
NDP	Can	2012	65,108	0.3%
PC	ON	1990	15,850	0.3%
Bloc Québécois	QC	2011	12,846	0.2%
Liberal	AB	2008	4,860	0.2%
PC	Can	1998	30,100	0.2%
NDP	ON	2009	11,150	0.1%
Liberal	AB	2004	2,733	0.1%
ADQ	QC	2009	3,912	0.1%
Wild Rose	AB	2005	1,128	0.1%