B.C. Liberals change leadership vote process

The provincial executive of British Columbia's Liberal Party has agreed to change its leadership voting process to give every member and region a say in replacing Premier Gordon Campbell.

Party president Mickey Patryluk said the executive has taken a major step in modernizing the process17 years after Campbell was elected asleader.

The proposed process calls for a preferential ballot system to give every party member a chance to cast a vote and weighing the results through a point system.

The first leadership contestant to get more than 50 per cent of the points allocated on any province-wide count would be selected as the leader.

The new voting process will be ratified at an extraordinary convention on Feb. 12, but the executive has yet to set a date for the leadership vote.

Campbell announced his resignation earlier this month, but said he'd stay on until a new leader is chosen. Hecould technically remain in office until May.

B.C. Liberal Party spokesman Chad Pederson said the executive was not able to set a leadership vote date after agreeing to reschedule the cancelled November party convention to next May.

Pederson said the party executive is planning to meetthis week to firm up a date for the leadership convention.

"Our constitutional provisions state we must set a date for a leadership vote within 28 days of the leader requesting a leadership convention," he said. "And for us, that date expires at the end of the month."

The Liberals have six months after that meeting date to set a date for a leadership convention, Pederson said.