Some proposals to change N.B. PC Party rules won't go forward

New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives won't be tackling thorny changes to their party constitution next weekend after all.

Several potentially contentious changes to their rules will not be put to a vote after they failed to get enough support at local PC riding meetings, according to a package sent to some PC members Friday afternoon and obtained by CBC News.

A motion to put a cap on out-of-province donations — an issue that generated controversy when then-premier Blaine Higgs went on fundraising trips to Western Canada last year — is now off the table.

So is a motion that would give local riding associations more control over the selection of candidates and the timing of nominating meetings.

A proposal to give a three-person committee the power to expel any party member who "publicly brings the party into disrepute" also did not advance. This will continue to require an 80 per cent vote by the party's large governing body, the provincial council.

Another motion that won't go forward would have required party staff to be bilingual and party meetings to provide simultaneous interpretation between English and French.

Under the party's rules, motions had to be endorsed by a net five local riding association votes to be debated at the May 24 provincial party meeting in Moncton.

That meant there would have to be five more associations endorsing a motion than opposing it.

The party circulated a total of 47 motions to local riding associations for consideration. Only 20 got enough support to be debated at the provincial meeting.

Most of the motions that survived are housekeeping or procedural changes.

The only major proposed change that will be up for debate would create a ranked-ballot system for choosing the next party leader.

That would let members rank their choices for leader in a single ballot, with lower-ranked choices dropping off in each round of counting until someone gets more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Another proposal to give each of the 49 ridings in the province equal weight in a leadership vote was vetoed by party staff, former party president Don Moore told CBC News.