B.C. NDP won’t wait for legislature to start moving on promises

Premier-designate John Horgan says his new government won’t wait for the legislature to return before taking action on key files like electoral reform, Site C and the overdose crisis. Horgan said he’ll move quickly after he and his cabinet are sworn in — likely in two to three weeks — to tackle issues that don’t require legislation and can be kickstarted before the return of the legislature in September. That includes referring the $9-billion Site C dam for review to the B.C. Utilities Commission, starting a fair-wages commission to move to a $15 minimum wage, establishing a panel on a referendum for proportional representation, beginning opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, adding more money to the K-12 education system and working with mayors on Metro Vancouver transit expansion. “We can get those going without the legislature,” Horgan said in an interview with Postmedia News on Friday. “We can do that shortly after a cabinet is sworn in and get going on making sure we have people in place to populate those commitments particularly on electoral reform. In terms of legislation, we’re going to table legislation to ban big money and it appears we’ll have unanimous support.” Horgan also said he’ll also take Prime Minister Justin Trudeau up on an offer made in their phone call Friday to visit Ottawa after he’s sworn in his cabinet. He’ll use the opportunity to then travel to Toronto to speak to business leaders, and then Washington, D.C., to fulfil a campaign promise to travel there within his first 30 days as premier and fight for B.C.’s softwood-lumber industry. Trudeau and Horgan spoke Friday about the softwood-lumber dispute, the fentanyl overdose crisis, housing affordability and Metro’s transit expansion plans, said Horgan. In particular, Horgan said he wants to get his stand-alone Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions running immediately to have “an individual accountable, not just to cabinet, but to the public, that we are making progress every day” on reducing the overdose crisis. New data from B.C.’s Coroners Service on Friday showed the crisis isn’t abating, with 640 people killed in the first five months of 2017 compared with 343 during the same period last year. Horgan spent much of his first day as premier-designate doing media interviews, after Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon called upon him late Thursday to form the next government. That request followed the defeat of Christy Clark’s Liberals in the legislature and Clark’s subsequent resignation. Behind-the-scenes, NDP officials and senior civil servants began the transition process Friday morning, which included the government handing over almost two dozen detailed transition binders. Don Wright, former president of the B.C. Institute of Technology who had been tapped to become the deputy minister and head of the public service by former NDP leader Adrian Dix in the 2013 election, is expected to play a similarly high-profile role under the new Horgan administration. Wright most recently served as CEO of the Central 1 Credit Union, but announced on May 19 his intention to step down. Horgan wouldn’t comment on Wright’s role Friday. “We have people coming together and we will announce those people early next week,” said Horgan. “We are wanting to get this done as quickly as possible and want to swear-in a government and get going.” The government briefing binders, which are broken down roughly into one per ministry, contain the current financial situation, a staff count, ministerial priorities and an outline of important issues that fall under what’s informally called the 30-60-90-day schedule key items for the next three months. Some ministries, such as health, will contain an extraordinary amount of information and action items, given that health care eats up almost half the $50-billion annual provincial budget. Others, such as education, will have time-sensitive issues, such as the endof-June deadline for school boards to submit balanced budgets. “The role of the public service is to provide any and all information requested by the NDP transition team to assist them during this time,” assistant deputy minister Matt Gordon said in a statement. Civil servants have also prepared briefing notes specific to the promises outlined in last month’s NDP-Green power-sharing accord, as well as the NDP election campaign platform. The notes provide estimates on cost, timing and other implications, along with detailed options on how to implement those priorities. The new NDP regime is also expected to fire dozens of existing staffers as it brings in its own people to assume key roles in ministerial offices and government ministries. Asked whether he expects to find any hidden crises waiting for him within books provided by the Liberal regime, he said he’d have to wait and see. “There are always issues under-reported, but are aware to people in the system,” he said. “And if you don’t ask the right question you don’t always get the comprehensive answer.” Outgoing Liberal Finance Minister Mike de Jong told the media this week that the provincial finances are in good shape, with a larger-than-expected, $2.8-billion surplus ending the 2016-17 fiscal year. Horgan has said he doesn’t believe that financial situation is accurate, but wants to see the transition books first. NDP MLA Carole James — who is widely expected to become Horgan’s finance minister — told the media this week that the party still intends to provide a balanced budget, but also wants to see the fully audited, public-accounts figures next week to truly understand the province’s financial situation.