It looks like it will be some time yet before B.C. holds a byelection to fill the seat left vacant by former premier Christy Clark.
On Wednesday, Premier John Horgan said a vote in Clark’s Kelowna-West riding is coming, but it will take a while.
Clark resigned on Aug. 4, and the government must call a byelection within six months of that date, giving Horgan until February.
“We are getting closer to the Christmas period. I think people would think that’s probably not the best time to call a byelection,” said Horgan.
Horgan added that his to-do list is long right now, with a decision on the Site C dam looming, along with addressing the ongoing softwood lumber dispute and the aftermath of B.C.’s record fire season.
“I’ve got a lot on my plate right now and I think the citizens of Kelowna-West will cut me some slack if I get to calling that byelection in the next couple of weeks rather than today,” Horgan said.
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The opposition BC Liberals were quick to fire back, quoting Horgan in a tweet and accusing him of leaving “45,000 Kelowna West residents who don’t have democratic representation.”
However, back in 2016 the BC Liberals also waited until January, nearly the entire six-month window, to call a pair of byelections for MLAs Jenny Kwan and Doug Horne, who had both resigned the previous summer.
The vacant seat has increased the NDP minority government’s grip on power; the vacancy, combined with BC Liberal Daryl Plecas occupying the speaker’s chair, has left both the government and the opposition with 41 voting MLAs.
With the Greens’ support, it gives the NDP a three-seat working majority.
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