Saskatchewan NDP 2010 Resolutions - Free Membership

For those waiting in suspense to find out whether the Saskatchewan NDP would manage to top the Sask Party in terms of member interest, the Commonwealth has the answer (warning: PDF) - as the NDP has narrowly edged out the governing party's number of policy ideas by a margin of 73 to 5. And all this before it actually goes through the bulk of its policy development process.

But of course, the point of resolutions goes far beyond just the count. So let's spend some time in the week leading up to the convention discussing some of the more interesting ones put forward. For today I'll stick to posting a resolution on a topic which I've wondered about before, and encourage reader discussion in comments. But I'll deal with some of the resolutions in more detail as the week goes on.

So without any further ado, here's one of Regina Dewdney's resolutions on party affairs, dealing with the idea of free party membership:

PA2. WHEREAS membership cost should not be an impediment to involvement or membership in the New Democratic Party of Saskatchewan; and

WHEREAS the system costs more to operate and administer than the membership fee;

BE IT RESOLVED that the New Democratic Party explore the benefits of moving to a registration system without a cost, similar to those used by political parties in the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Executive of the Party make recommendations through the Policy Development process of proposed changes at the 2011 convention.
- Regina Dewdney