B.C. Election: Greens to support NDP in four-year government deal
Rob Shaw
Published on: May 29, 2017 | Last Updated: May 29, 2017 6:09 PM PDT
VICTORIA — B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan could soon become British Columbia’s 36th premier, toppling the Liberal government and forcing the resignation of Premier Christy Clark under a historic power-sharing deal cut Monday between the NDP and Greens.
A flurry of unprecedented backroom negotiations to cobble together the next B.C. government culminated on the weekend at a downtown Victoria hotel, when Green Leader Andrew Weaver broke off talks with the Liberal negotiating team at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday, realizing they were too far apart for a deal.
The Liberals, led by a powerhouse bargaining team of Finance Minister Mike de Jong and B.C. Hydro chairman Brad Bennett expected to get another crack at convincing the Greens to support their party Monday morning. But Weaver blew off the meeting. Instead, Green chief of staff Liz Lilly phoned Bennett to break the bad news that morning: The Greens were going with the NDP.
Clark tried to intervene personally at the last minute, calling Weaver directly an hour before his planned 2 p.m. news conference. However, the university climate scientist was busy arriving at his legislature office, where he had to change from his regular Hawaiian shirt into a suit and prep for his joint press conference with Horgan. The premier’s call went to his voicemail.
“In the end we had to make a difficult decision,” Weaver told reporters at a news conference in front of the golden gates to the legislative chamber. “A decision we felt was in the best interest of British Columbia today and that decision was for the B.C. Greens to work with the B.C. NDP for a stable minority government over the four-year term of this next session.”
A smiling Horgan admitted he “got up with a bit of a spring in my step this morning” with news he would lead the New Democrats from 16 years in Opposition back in to power as government.
“There’s lots of work to do and we’re not done yet, but I’m confident with the 44 members, a majority of members prepared to support confidence motions for a New Democrat government, that we’re going to get there,” said Horgan.
“I would suggest the sooner the better for this institution.”
Clark’s Liberal government has 43 seats in the legislature, compared to a combined 44 Green-NDP (41 NDP and three Green).
After six years as premier, Clark now has two options: Resign immediately, or recall the legislature and lose the confidence of the house when the Green-NDP MLAs vote down her throne speech and budget. Then she’d have to resign anyway.
“As the incumbent government, and the party with the most seats in the legislature, we have a responsibility to carefully consider our next steps,” Clark said in a statement, promising to consult with her caucus Tuesday.
Upon Clark’s resignation, Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon would decide whether to call a new election or ask Horgan and the Greens to govern.
Constitutional experts generally agree she’d be obliged to ask Horgan to become premier if Clark were to be defeated within the next six months.
Details of the NDP-Green agreement will be released Tuesday, after ratification by the NDP caucus. But key issues appeared to unite the parties: Banning corporate and union donations, changing the electoral system to proportional representation, and opposing the expansion of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby. The Liberals supported the pipeline.
“Obviously there are some things near and dear to my heart, to the heart of my caucus colleagues, as well as to the B.C. NDP and their caucus,” said Weaver. “One of the things I can say is that the issue of Kinder Morgan is one that I have been heavily invested into … this issue of Kinder Morgan is one that was critical to us and I think you’ll see that reflected in tomorrow’s announcement.”
The Greens want intervener status in the Federal Court of Appeal’s hearing on the pipeline, and the NDP have said it would use every tool available to a government to block the construction.
The NDP support is for “supply and confidence” issues, meaning the budget and throne speech, said Weaver. It does not include cabinet posts for Weaver or his other two Green MLAs. Horgan said other legislation may pass or fail depending on the issue, and there may also be Green or Liberal bills that could pass the house without causing an NDP government to fall.
The Greens were under immense internal pressure not to prop up the Liberal government, and to instead support an NDP that more closely aligned with the Green environmental and social values.
“Ultimately, @BCGreens recoiled [sometimes physically] at the prospect of supporting a Liberal government,” tweeted Norman Spector, a former chief of staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who served as a strategic adviser to the Greens in the negotiations.
Despite the NDP and Greens promising four years of stability, they will face challenges controlling the legislature for that long.
The two parties united have 44 seats in the legislature and the slimmest of majorities. If they are forced to appoint a Speaker from their ranks, they’d drop to a tied 43 seats with the Liberals and the Speaker would have to break the tie votes.
No MLAs, cabinet ministers or the premier could leave the building for key votes, get sick, take vacation or miss a day of the session or else government would be at risk of being overwhelmed by the Liberal opposition.
“It’s still extremely precarious,” said veteran political scientist Norman Ruff. “Either way, it would be on a knife’s edge and it’s even sharper where we seem to be heading now. We still don’t know how exactly it’s all going to play out.”
Horgan and Weaver have had a difficult personal relationship in the past, with both parties heavily criticizing the character of the other leader. However, Horgan was directly at the bargaining table to patch up the relationship.
“To be blunt, I think John and I saw a different side of each other in the negotiations,” said Weaver.
“This is an adversarial place by its nature,” said Horgan. “And both of us want to change that.”
B.C. NDP leader John Horgan and B.C. Green party leader Andrew Weaver leave a press conference after announcing they’ll be working together to help form a minority government during a press conference at Legislature in Victoria, B.C., on Monday, May 29, 2017. CHAD HIPOLITO / THE CANADIAN PRESS
By convention, Clark remains premier until she resigns or chooses to call the legislature back and test the confidence of the house with a throne speech and budget — even if her opponents have lined up against her.
Earlier on Monday, Clark posted a video to her Twitter feed in which she acknowledged the uncertainty about who would ultimately form government, and reiterated she saw common ground with the other parties.
“I also know that if we can come to an agreement with other parties in the legislature for four years of stability that it’s going to be not a deal with political parties, it’s a deal with you,” she said in the video.
“Because you were the ones in the election who said you wanted us to do things differently and I want to make sure any agreement we come to reflects what you want. Because we want to make sure we do things differently in British Columbia, a new deal not for politicians, not for the legislature, but a new deal for British Columbians.”
Clark’s leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party may also be part of the discussions, depending on whether she or her colleagues want her to remain as eventual Opposition leader.
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