March came in like a lion, and the OYL AGM didn't. Being my first and only AGM, for the Young Liberals, I found the experience, heavy on the partying, and too light on the actual work.
First off, I found that debate was stifled on the constitutional amendments. That the Unlimited slate were telling people how to vote, and that in general the people addressing the issues were in essence only paying lip service to the true spirit of democratic debate. I thought that debate should have allowed people to talk for more than 30 seconds, as most speakers barely had time to state their name and riding in an introduction. I just like open debate, and had very little interest in the amendments, as I officially age out of the Young Liberals in August.
Another interesting point I thought of, was the total conflict of interest, in which the regional coordinators were taking a stance on the accountability amendment. I personally was in favour of the amendment for the reason that anything involving further Liberal Party accountability is good. Plus, I think there should be an accountability component for all the OYL executive, so they can't just sit on their titles and do bugger all.
Thirdly, I did enjoy my regional meeting, and found that it was a good session that involved real issues and gave me a chance to actually complain about a few things. I found my outgoing central region coordinator be receptive, and our incoming coordinator has my ear. So all in all, I hope that this meeting leads to more teamwork within the central region.
This region has a lot of potential, as the 905 and surrounding is underutilized in terms of the amount of seats we should hold. We all have the same suburban issues in terms of organization and issues. The Central region young liberals should hopefully have some good events this year (before September).
All in all, it was an interesting experience, and I felt that there was some good work done. But there is so much room for improvement in the organization, I won't exactly hold my breath for anything truly innovative or revolutionary to come out of the OYL this year.
2 comments:
"I found that debate was stifled on the constitutional amendments. That the Unlimited slate were telling people how to vote, and that in general the people addressing the issues were in essence only paying lip service to the true spirit of democratic debate. I thought that debate should have allowed people to talk for more than 30 seconds, as most speakers barely had time to state their name and riding in an introduction. I just like open debate, and had very little interest in the amendments" - J.C.
From my not so distant recollections of OYL AGM's, this sounds like an accurate depiction. Unfortunately it is also a good primer for some other AGM's, fyi. My advice, hang out in the suites and in the pubs frequented at AGM's, you'll hear more open debate there and get more done than you likely will debating in a plennary session.
Glad that you enjoyed your first AGM, they can be quite the experience. I would like to point out that although the Regional Coordinator accountability session did not pass there is an accountability session at Summer Fling for all Executive members.
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