We went to the polls to elect a new provincial government 71 days ago.
Since then we’ve waited through a molasses-slow recount and certification process, a mini-sitting of the legislature that was designed solely for the BC Liberals to attempt to cling to power, the dramatic decision by the lieutenant-governor to ask the NDP-Green alliance to proceed with forming government, and finally, finally yesterday’s swearing in of John Horgan as the new premier of British Columbia.
LISTEN: Can the BC Liberals play nice with the NDP?
We went to the polls to elect a new provincial government 71 days ago.
Seventy-one days.
When you add in the pre-election and main election campaign, the B.C. government has been in a state of suspended animation for almost four months.
Democracy isn’t pretty, but it beats the alternatives.
But now it’s time to get to work.
Horgan and the Greens have an ambitious and costly platform to introduce.
The expectation level is high on many issues: transit, daycare, the housing crisis and drug overdoses to name a few.
If Christy Clark were serious about MLAs working together on behalf of the people of B.C, serious about adopting many of the NDP-Green platform planks, then one could imagine a series of legislative sessions in which great progress is made and the people, not petty politics, are the first order of business.
We won’t know for sure until the legislature is recalled in September, but early indications from the Liberals are that for now, petty politics will prevail.
Old habits are hard to break, I guess.
Yesterday on Twitter, former deputy premier Rich Coleman said “This #GreeNDP government was not recognized by the majority BC & will pander to minority interest at the expense of the majority #bcpoli.”
Being a career politician it’s odd that Mr. Coleman is unaware of how the parliamentary system operates and that coalitions and minority governments are a mainstay.
Does he believe Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon, after consulting with parliamentary experts from around the world, came to the wrong decision by asking Horgan and co. to give it a go?
Does he believe she was misled or not up to the task of making such weighty decisions?
As for the NDP-Green alliance pandering to minority interests at the expense of the majority, I hope the former housing minister was just kidding around.
You know, a little shot before getting back to work.
WATCH: John Horgan is sworn-in as B.C.’s 36th premier
The fact is that the Liberal Party refined pandering and the corruption that went with it to a fine art.
They raised millions and millions of dollars from a relative handful of wealthy donors and companies, while ignoring the interests of those who couldn’t pony up.
Rich Coleman’s tweet epitomizes the sneering, self-possessed, ruling at the hand of God attitude that saw Christy Clark’s majority government toppled.
And the Liberals have no one to blame but themselves.
I hope Christy Clark was honest in talking about working together.
Because there’s far too much work to do to pay any more attention to Rich Coleman’s whining.