NDP-Greens close in on Clark’s Liberals

It was an all-too-clever attempt by Christy Clark to break up the political bromance between the two guys who want to steal her throne.

But NDP Leader John Horgan and Green party Leader Andrew Weaver were having none of it.

Horgan and Weaver have vowed to bring down Clark’s minority Liberal government at the first opportunity, which is shaping up to be this Thursday. That means Clark still has a few days left as premier, and the Liberals are trying every trick in the book to push back the enemies at their gate.

On Monday, the Liberals introduced two bills: One would have banned corporate and union donations to political parties, and the other would have recognized the three-member Green party as an official party in the legislature. The NDP and Greens support both measures in principle.

But there was no way they were going to let Clark’s Liberals score a last-minute goal before the game is over. They didn’t rise to the bait. Both bills were defeated on first reading by a vote of 44-42. The first-reading defeat is significant, since all bills traditionally pass first reading. That protocol got tossed out the window as both bills died a quick death.

The Liberals, though, acted like they scored a win over their opponents: they made them look silly by forcing them to vote against things they claim to support.

But I think Clark looks the foolish one here by playing procedural games and delaying a non-confidence vote that the Liberals will also surely lose. That will force Clark to resign. Then Judith Guichon, the lieutenant-governor, will likely call on Horgan to form a government.

But Clark is clearly hoping Guichon looks at the razor-close standings in the legislature and calls a snap election instead. Yes, Clark has said “no one wants an election” and she said she won’t ask Guichon to call one. But a quick election appears to be Clark’s best hope to stay in power. She doesn’t dare ask Guichon to call it, though, because any party seen as forcing an election risks being punished by voters.

Instead, Clark is saying she won’t offer Guichon any advice at all. She will let Guichon make up her own mind, hope she calls an election on her own and then try to blame the NDP for it.

I think that’s a big reason for the Liberals’ bizarre throne speech last week, which was close to a carbon copy of the NDP’s campaign platform.

If the Clark government is defeated, and Guichon surprises everyone by calling an election, Clark will tell voters: “We offered the NDP the things they wanted in a throne speech, but they voted it down anyway and forced an election.”

If all this sounds like an overly complicated plan for Clark to somehow cling to power, you’re right. I don’t think it’s going to work. Clark would have been smarter to forget the tricks, take her defeat with some dignity and wait for the NDP-Green government to mess up and fail.

Instead, she looks like she is playing games while important government files are ignored. And by lurching to the left with an NDP “clone speech,” she risks losing support to the fringe B.C. Conservative party.

Clark may have some more tricks up her sleeve. But the end is near.