Greens back NDP minority
Despite Horgan-Weaver pact, Christy Clark is still B.C. premier — for now
B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver revealed Monday that his party has agreed to work with the NDP to form a minority provincial government and bring down Liberal Premier Christy Clark.
In a news conference with NDP Leader John Horgan at the B.C. legislature, Weaver said the deal follows intense negotiations with both the NDP and the Liberals.
“In the end, we had to make a difficult decision, a decision that we felt was in the best interest of British Columbia today,” he said. “And that decision was for the B.C. Greens to work with the B.C. NDP to provide a stable minority government over the four-year term of this next session.”
Horgan called it a historic day for the province.
“I am very excited about the prospects of delivering to the people of British Columbia what they voted for on May 9 and that was change,” he said. “We are going to be able to give that change as a result of the agreement reached between the B.C. Green caucus and the B.C. NDP caucus.”
A pact between the two parties does not necessarily mean they will form government immediately.
Clark remains the premier and could either resign or take first crack at delivering a throne speech in the legislature to see if it has the confidence of the house. If the speech is defeated, Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon could call an election or, more likely, offer the NDP an opportunity to form a government with the support of the Greens.
The Liberals have 43 seats to 41 for the NDP and three for the Greens. The NDP-Green pact would give them a razorthin majority with 44 seats. If the Speaker is selected from the government side, he or she would have to break any tie votes.
Clark did not speak to the media on Monday, but said in a statement that she is considering her next move.
“In recent days, we have made every effort to reach a governing agreement, while standing firm on our core beliefs,” she said. “It’s vitally important that British Columbians see the specific details of the agreement announced today by the B.C. NDP and Green Party leaders, which could have far-reaching consequences for our province’s future.
“As the incumbent government, and the party with the most seats in the legislature, we have a responsibility to carefully consider our next steps. I will consult on those steps with the newly elected B.C. Liberal caucus, and have more to say tomorrow.”
Horgan said the NDP and Greens will inform Guichon of their deal in the next few days.
“The premier will have some choices to make without any doubt,” he said. “The agreement that’s been reached between the Green caucus and the B.C. NDP caucus demonstrates that we have the majority support of members in the legislature.”
Horgan said the NDP would run the government with support from the Greens on confidence and budgetary issues; being defeated on such issues can cause a government to fall.
Weaver said no Green MLAs would be in the cabinet. “We specifically did not ask for there to be a coalition,” he said. “We wanted to maintain a minority situation to show British Columbians that it can work.”
Added Horgan: “The absorbing of the Green caucus was not an agenda item; in fact, it was specifically not an agenda item.”
Weaver said his threemember caucus has already endorsed the deal, while the NDP caucus is expected to ratify the agreement at a meeting in Victoria today. Details of the agreement will be released once it’s approved.
“I don’t want to leave you hanging,” Horgan said. “We have had a preliminary discussion with our caucus colleagues, but they were all scheduled to be in town tomorrow. They’re going to get a detailed look at the document at that time. I have every confidence that there’s going to be unanimous support from our team.”
As for what happens next, Michael Prince, Lansdowne professor of social policy at the University of Victoria, said the most conventional constitutional route would be for Clark to remain premier, appoint a cabinet and present a throne speech in the legislature within 90 days.
Prince said it would be “highly irregular” for Guichon to go right to Horgan and ask him to form government now.
“Christy Clark is the incumbent, she is the premier, she did win the plurality of seats with 43, so I mean, it’s her responsibility, as she said in her statement last week, to make government work,” he said.
Prince said it’s possible, but unlikely, that Clark would resign now, rather than take a shot at forming government.
“Some of her own instincts and some of her advisers would say: ‘Look, it’s not over till it’s over and you’re still in the driver’s seat, you’re still in the role. You did win a few more votes in the popular vote, you did win more seats. Give it a go and who knows, between now and September, what can happen in terms of the honeymoon period between the Greens and the NDP?’ ”
The B.C. Green Party, which holds the balance of power in the legislature, has made its choice, which will probably see New Democrat John Horgan moving into the premier’s office before much longer. Details to come. Those missing details are crucial. Some we will know today, some will be revealed in a week or more, and some — the public’s view of a minority government, for one thing — will remain a mystery until the next election.
The notion of a minority government working across party lines in the public interest is a refreshing one, and should be welcomed. Can the politicians deliver?
The B.C. Liberals are in a minority with 43 seats, the NDP is in a minority with 41 seats, and the Greens have three. With Green Leader Andrew Weaver promising to support the NDP on confidence matters — the votes that could cause a government to fall — the New Democrats have the upper hand. Premier John Horgan, it’s time for your closeup. But not so fast. Liberal Leader Christy Clark, who had also been wooing the Greens, is not a political neophyte. Don’t count her out yet; she could argue that in a divided house, she should retain the right to form a government, and she could try to convince Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon to give her that chance.
If Clark hangs on, however, she will likely be defeated by the Horgan-Weaver alliance the first chance they get, no matter how much they natter on about the entire legislature working together.
Back up a bit. Guichon will also hear from Horgan, who will argue that he controls 44 seats, one more than the Liberals, and therefore his NDP-Green alliance (as opposed to an outright takeover, or even a coalition) should have a crack at running the show.
On numbers alone, Horgan wins, so let’s assume he will become premier. When a Speaker is elected from his ranks, the NDP-Green team will be down to 43 seats, the same as the Liberals, and barring absences, our legislature will be tied. The Speaker will be called upon to break those deadlocks.
But the Greens don’t believe that MLAs should be required to always vote the party line. Horgan has said there is nothing in the alliance agreement to prevent Greens from supporting Liberal proposals.
The Green policy is that it does not force MLAs to vote in a particular way, unlike other provincial and federal parties, which “whip” their members to vote according to the party’s dictates. Party discipline is the way leaders maintain coherent policy and ensure they can deliver the votes they need at crucial times.
The Greens’ code of conduct for MLAs says: “The only issues on which the Green Party of B.C. requires caucus agreement on how to vote are explicit votes of confidence. Otherwise, the Green Party of B.C. has a policy of free votes in the B.C. legislature, including the budget.”
The policy, in keeping with the party’s attitude to democracy, presents few problems for a party where its votes don’t affect the outcome of legislation. But suddenly, the Greens are a third party whose votes matter a lot.
Budgets and confidence votes aside, MLAs deal with bills on issues from liquor control to workplace regulation to health care. Getting those passed would require Green support. Will Horgan have to wonder before every vote whether the needed votes will materialize?
Expect to see the Greens’ free-vote policy evaporate before long. But if it doesn’t — could it spread to the NDP? If so, that will add another level of uncertainty.
Will every Island New Democrat get a cabinet post? Not a chance. How will Horgan deal with the disaffected? Before the election, there were rumours that a couple of them would switch to municipal politics. Given that they have safe seats, any byelection would not likely change the party standings — unless, that is, voters are fed up with the way the minority government is being run.
Weaver has said that he wants voters to see that a minority is not something to be afraid of, and that proportional representation can work. And that raises another key point.
The Greens believe that the government should simply impose on the voters a change in the way we vote. In 2009, 60 per cent of voters rejected a shift from the first-pastthe-post system, but the Greens have realized that small parties will always have trouble being elected under that system. Democracy be damned, they say; let’s just do it. The New Democrats have also argued for a change, but believe it should be put to a vote, not forced. Has the NDP caved to the Green demands? In theory we will know today, when the full terms of the pact are to made public.
If the deal calls for passing electoral reform legislation without consulting voters, or if neither Horgan or Weaver will rule that out, Clark should ask Guichon for an election on the issue. It is that important.
Weaver says his three-person caucus has already ratified the new accord, and Horgan’s team will vote today, although he has promised that they will vote yes.
The May 9 general election will have repercussions for many months to come. There is still much we don’t know, including the name of the next premier.
Weaver made a point of saying that he wants stability, and he wants to see a government that can last for the full four-year term. We’d like to see that as well. But we’re not betting on it. The devil, as they say, is always in the details.