ALL PARTIES HAVE MUCH TO PROVE IN NEW SESSION
Liberals, New Democrats and Greens must adapt to unfamiliar positions
When the B.C. legislature convenes Friday under a new government for the first time in 16 years, each of the three parties in the house will have things to prove and things to live down.
For the B.C. Liberals, now relegated to the Opposition side, the living down starts with the last-ditch actions of their now departed leader, Christy Clark.
Much as Liberals are trying to forget Clark’s desperation throne speech — the one where she poached multiple planks from the NDP and Green platforms — they can expect to have the contents thrown back in their faces in the coming session.
Then there’s the Clark claim that the NDP- Green partnership couldn’t possibly manage the legislature.
“This isn’t a working legislature, and I haven’t seen any evidence that it could work,” she told reporters on the eve of her defeat in a confidence motion.
Clark then voiced a similar opinion to Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon in seeking a new election.
But the other parties’ refusal to work with Clark did not mean they could not work with each other. They had already done so by combining to turn back the Liberals on several occasions.
Happily, Guichon decided to give the arrangement a chance to prove itself. She accepted Clark’s resignation instead of her advice.
Clark then decided to flee the political arena, rather than putting her “they can’t make it work” claim to the test for even one day as leader of the Opposition.
By resigning her seat at the same time as the party leadership, she gifted incoming premier John Horgan with a two-seat margin in the house for the time (up to seven months) it will take to fill the vacancy.
Complicit in all this were the B.C. Liberals, who had fallen into the habit of treating Clark as infallible after her against-the-odds win in the 2013 election.
In the weeks ahead, they’ll be challenged to find things to say that are not contradicted by their own record in government or their stunning reversals in the month of trying to cling to power.
While the Liberals have been flailing about, the New Democrats found their footing in government with surprising speed.
Still short of two full months in office, they’ve already checked off multiple items from their election platform, reaping good news headlines along the way.
As for Horgan, he’s taken to the office of premier with confidence and generosity — in refreshing contrast to the angry, frustrated qualities too often on display during his days in Opposition.
Of course, it is early days. Like many a new government, the New Democrats have been picking lowhanging fruit, leaving tougher judgment calls for later.
They cancelled tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges, thereby keeping the promise that upstaged the Liberals at the outset of the campaign and helped switch several seats in Metro Vancouver.
A political masterstroke, but not a fiscal one. The running tab for the loss of the tolls starts at $132 million a year. Still to come, the impact on the provincial credit rating of absorbing billions of dollars in bridge-related debt that is no longer supported by toll revenue.
Another consequence followed this week, as the government backed away from replacing the George Massey tunnel with a toll bridge. New Democrats intend to spend months searching for an alternative, while admitted gridlock and safety concerns remain.
Another reckoning postponed involved ICBC finances. Minister in charge David Eby raised rates and took after easy targets like distracted driving, speeding and Crown corporation waste.
The rate increase can readily be laid at the feet of the B.C. Liberals, who siphoned money from ICBC to balance the provincial government books and artificially depressed rates until after the election.
Even so, British Columbians were left paying some of the highest premiums in the country. One of the main culprits, according to the recent internal audit, was out-of-control legal costs and out-of-line payouts for minor injuries.
But lawyer Eby balked at going after his own profession to cap claims and reduce litigation. Unless he does, the New Democrats will share blame for the next increase in premiums.
As New Democrats who survived government in the 1990s could tell their lessexperienced colleagues, the honeymoon will soon enough by replaced by myriad complaints of “what have you done for us lately?”
While the Liberals experience the humiliations of Opposition and the New Democrats realize the limitations of being in government, a third party to these proceedings will face challenges of its own.
The Green decision to sign a power-sharing agreement with the New Democrats pushed out Clark and installed Horgan in her place.
But the New Democrats, believing the Green caucus would not support a deal with the Liberals, didn’t give Green Leader Andrew Weaver much that was not already in their platform and rebuffed him on other points.
Weaver wanted to maintain tolls. They are gone. He wanted the legislature to bring in electoral reform. It will go to referendum. He would have killed Site C outright. It has gone to a review that might provide a pretext for saving it.
Weaver, stung by criticisms that he played a weak hand, continues to make the most of openings to criticize the New Democrats.
The challenge for him is to preserve credibility, even as he and the Greens cast the votes that could keep the New Democrats in office for years.
While the Liberals have been flailing about, the New Democrats found their footing in government with surprising speed.