NDP, Greens can’t make gov’t work, says premier

Liberals expected to lose power in confidence vote

VICTORIA — Premier Christy Clark says she’s ready to tell the lieutenant-governor B.C.’s legislature can’t work if her Liberal minority government is defeated in a confidence vote today.

If Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon asks her opinion, Clark said Wednesday she will reply she hasn’t seen any evidence the house can function with the NDP and Greens holding a one-seat advantage in the 87-seat legislature.

It will then be up to Guichon to decide whether to dissolve the legislature and trigger an election or ask the New Democrats to form a minority government.

The NDP and Greens have an agreement to defeat the Liberals in a bid to put the New Democrats in power.

But a debate over who will serve as Speaker has raised questions about how long an NDP government might survive as the Liberals have not committed to allowing one of their members to serve in the position.

If a New Democrat or Green member serves in the post, the house is deadlocked with votes likely to end in 43-43 outcomes, leaving the Speaker to decide whether to break the tie.

Clark said the Liberals have tried to work with the opposition parties by adopting parts of their platforms in last week’s throne speech.

But at the first opportunity, they chose not to back her government, voting against proposals they support that would have banned political donations by unions and corporations, and given the Greens official party status in the legislature.

Clark said the message from last month’s election — which saw the Liberals win 43 seats, the NDP 41 and the Greens three — was voters want the three parties to co-operate.

“That’s why we decided the throne speech reflected priorities from all parties and all members because we want to make our legislature work,” she said.

“None of us should want to take the risk that an election could be called.”

She said if Guichon asks her opinion on the chances of the house working, she will give a frank answer.

“I’ve got to be honest . . . . It isn’t working,” she said.

“I haven’t seen any evidence that it could work. I know that they have the numbers to topple the government and to take power, but I haven’t seen any evidence that they have the numbers they need to govern.”

NDP Leader John Horgan set the wheels in motion by introducing the non-confidence motion in the legislature on Wednesday during the throne speech debate.

After 16 years in power, he asked why the Liberals didn’t act before on the concerns expressed by the opposition parties.

“We expected the B.C. Liberal party . . . to deliver a throne speech that represented the values that they have put forward in election after election after election,” he said in a draft transcript of Hansard.

“Instead, we had the bizarre phenomenon of hearing Green platform planks being put forward and New Democrat platform planks being put forward as if they were now all of a sudden the best ideas that the government could find.”

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s finance minister has painted a rosy picture of the province’s finances a day before his government is expected to be defeated in a confidence vote, saying a $2.8-billion surplus helped support a bevy of new promises in the Liberal throne speech.

The unaudited fiscal update released by Mike de Jong on Wednesday says the higher-thanexpected surplus in the 2016-17 fiscal year helped reduce the province’s taxpayer-supported debt by $1.2 billion, while its operating debt decreased by $3.4 billion.

The Liberals campaigned in last month’s election on a platform of fiscal restraint and criticized the Opposition New Democrats for making costly promises. However, in the throne speech last week, they adopted many of the NDP proposals, totalling $2.6 billion in new spending over three years.

The NDP and Greens, which won a combined 44 seats in the election, have agreed to bring down the Liberals, with 43 seats, in a confidence vote today, with the aim of allowing the NDP to form a minority government.

De Jong said the Liberals based their February budget and campaign platform on projections from the economic forecast council, which at that time had an “abiding pessimism,” and he only learned of B.C.’s stronger finances from the council June 6.

“We didn’t think we had that money in February,” he said.

The throne speech included numerous policy reversals for the Liberals, including an increase to welfare rates and a commitment to cancel tolls on two Metro Vancouver bridges, an NDP promise that de Jong had warned would strip B.C. of its triple-A credit rating.

De Jong said Wednesday that giving up the tolls would cost the province about $400 million over three years.

Green Leader Andrew Weaver said the timing of the update before the confidence vote is unusual. The unaudited numbers can only be viewed as a draft at this stage and the province must wait to see if they hold up to scrutiny, he said.

“It is encouraging to hear that B.C.’s economy is doing well. However, releasing this information out of political calculation is inappropriate,” he said in a statement.

The government usually provides the year-end financial update in July after it has been examined by the auditor general. De Jong said he expected the audit to be complete by July 10, but he felt it necessary to deliver the news now.

“I thought it appropriate on the eve, or as there is likely to be a transfer of power, to disclose to British Columbians the state of the books,” he said, adding he expects the numbers to be “virtually identical” after the audit.

De Jong said GDP growth in 2016 dramatically outstripped forecasts. The budget forecast 2.4-per-cent growth, while actual growth was 3.7 per cent, he said.