FACE-OFF
As Christy Clark prepares to face a united opposition in the legislature, Liberal MLA Darryl Plecas reveals in an exclusive interview how the NDP and Greens tried three times to lure him into the Speaker’s chair
It’s the last stand for Premier Christy Clark and her governing Liberals’ 16-year grip on power in B.C.
This Thursday, 87 MLAs will gather in Victoria, as the B.C. legislature begins what is certain to be an historic and dramatic session of parliament.
After the razor-close May 9 election, the numbers add up to almost certain doom for Clark as she prepares to face a united opposition determined to vote her out of office.
John Horgan’s NDP and Andrew Weaver’s Green party have signed a power-sharing deal, agreeing to pool their votes to take the Liberals down. The NDP-Green alliance holds 44 seats, while the Liberals have 43. If the Liberals lose a non-confidence motion in the House as expected, Clark will be forced to resign, and Horgan will likely become premier.
But, as the final showdown looms, there is nervousness in every party caucus. And the tension in the offices and hallways of the legislature is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
For the NDP, the anticipation of forming a Green-supported minority government is exciting. But there’s also deep concern that their slim one-seat advantage over Clark will create a difficult governing challenge. That’s why the NDP and Greens have tried to lure a Liberal MLA into the Speaker’s chair.
Now, for the first time, one Liberal MLA is revealing how he faced relentless NDP-Green pressure to take the Speaker’s job.
“I was asked on three specific occasions,” revealed Darryl Plecas, the newly re-elected Liberal MLA for Abbotsford South. Plecas said he rejected the offer every time, but the NDP and Greens just wouldn’t give up.
“The notion of us (the Liberals) putting up someone for Speaker under the current circumstances is ridiculous,” Plecas told me.
“In fact, I would go further to say that it would be an outright manipulation of the democratic process.”