Liberal Speaker might not last long

If government falls, NDP-Green tandem are on their own

The B.C. Liberals confirmed Thursday that one of their MLAs will serve as Speaker — at least for a few days — once the legislature returns June 22.

Premier Christy Clark danced around the question this week, but Finance Minister Mike de Jong told reporters in Vancouver that a member of the Liberal caucus will take the job.

He stressed, however, that there is no obligation for the MLA to stay on as Speaker if, as expected, the Liberal government loses a confidence vote on the throne speech and falls to the NDP-Green alliance, possibly as early as June 29.

It’s an important issue because the two parties — with 41 NDP MLAs and three Greens — hold a slim one-vote edge over the 43 Liberals in the legislature.

If the NDP forms a minority government and has to provide a Speaker, the NDP-Green alliance and the Opposition Liberals will have 43 seats apiece, leaving the Speaker to break any tie votes.

B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver and B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan suggested this week that the Speaker is elected to the non-partisan post by all members of the legislature and should serve four years — barring illness, scandal or a cabinet appointment.

Horgan said it would be unethical if a Liberal takes the post for a few days and then resigns once the government falls.

De Jong called that “bizarre commentary.”

“To hear now that somehow an opposition party … has the responsibility for propping up the government by providing a Speaker is utter nonsense,” he said.

“And I think [it] really speaks to an element of desperation that is setting in around the realization that what Mr. Horgan and Mr. Weaver have crafted simply isn’t a workable approach to governing.”

De Jong added that there’s no appetite on the part of his Liberal colleagues to serve as Speaker under an NDP government.

The NDP’s Mike Farnworth, who has served as Opposition house leader for years, said the NDP-Green alliance will provide stable government with or without a Liberal MLA in the Speaker’s chair.

He said de Jong’s claims to the contrary are just further proof that Premier Christy Clark and the Liberals are having a tough time coming to grips with the fact they will soon be in Opposition.

The NDP government will put someone forward to serve as Speaker if the Liberal MLA steps down, Farnworth said.

Weaver agreed that the NDPGreen alliance can work, even with an NDP MLA in the Speaker’s chair, and he accused de Jong and the Liberals of “trying to work the people of British Columbia into a tizzy about a non-existent crisis.”