Christy Clark loses confidence of BC legislature, paving way for BC NDP

Christy Clark has lost the confidence of the BC Legislature, paving the way for a BC NDP minority government – or a snap election. Over the course of the last week, Clark’s BC Liberals had presented a throne speech and budget, but after days of debate, a motion of non-confidence was introduced by BC NDP leader John Horgan. As expected, that motion passed 44-42 this afternoon, meaning the BC Liberals have now lost the “confidence of the house” and according to convention cannot form a government. Speaking in the Legislature just before the vote, Clark said: What happens next is up to Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon, the Queen’s representative in BC, who Clark met with for more than an hour after the defeat. Guichon can either dissolve the legislature prompting a new election, or ask BC NDP leader John Horgan to try to form the next BC government. Emerging from her meeting with Guichon at about 7:20 pm on Thursday, Clark told assembled reporters: “The Lieutenant-Governor and I had a very good, long conversation, as you may have guessed, given the amount of time that we were there. “She has now retired to make her decision and I’m going to wait, I’m going to respect her time to do that and when she has made that decision and made that decision public, I will be available to all of you for comment if you’d like me to. “I know people want to know, and with eve- ryone else in British Columbia and across the country, I’ll be waiting too.” It is not clear when the Lieutenant-Governor will announce her decision. It’s worth noting that in a recent Angus Reid poll of British Columbia voters, only 29% said they would support a snap election. Speaking on Wednesday, a day before she was toppled, Clark anticipated her defeat, but said if asked, she would tell Guichon she didn’t believe the legislature could work. Clark said she had seen no evidence that the BC NDP and the BC Greens had the numbers needed to actually govern, and she would advise Guichon so. Notably, if the BC NDP or BC Greens were to put forward a Speaker for the house, it would leave them tied on 43 seats with the would pass. On June 12, Clark and her cabinet were sworn in by Guichon. Ten days later, last Thursday, she finally recalled the legislature and introduced her throne speech. The speech, which lays out the BC Liberals’ plans for government, borrowed heavily from what had been in the BC NDP and BC Green campaign platforms. The legislature then adjourned until this Monday, when a variety of bills were introduced by the BC Liberals and voted down blind by the BC NDP and BC Greens. And then, finally, came the traditional period BC Liberals. This could lead to many tie votes on bills, with the Speaker expected to break the tie. Faced with Clark’s advice, it is unclear what Guichon will choose to do – but she could choose to dissolve the legislature, prompting another election to settle the matter. of debate on the throne speech, which traditionally lasts around four days. Much of that debate was long speeches by the BC Liberals, punctuated by criticism from the BC NDP and BC Greens and attempts to get to a vote. Meanwhile, the BC Liberals were accused of delaying democracy, while the BC NDP and BC Greens have been criticized for voting down BC Liberal bills sight unseen. After comments on Wednesday, Clark was accused of making a last ditch attempt to scare opposition MLAs into keeping her in power, to avoid an election.