BC May 9, 2017 Election Results and Comments

As if the Liberals would ever give up the government reigns willingly.

Vaughn Palmer: B.C. Liberals odds of deal with Greens fading fast

But then came a series of withering blasts at the Liberals that called into question his ability to work with them on Big Ticket items.

On the Liberal decision to proceed with construction of a hydroelectric dam at Site C on the Peace River. “We believe that Site C is reckless from an economic perspective. It’s essentially trying to deliver taxpayer-subsidized power to a non-existent LNG industry.”

On the carbon tax and climate action plans: “The B.C. Liberal position … frankly, they don’t have a climate position.”

On the proposed twinning of the Kinder Morgan pipeline: “We know that there is no way of cleaning up diluted bitumen in coastal waters. It is utterly irresponsible of the B.C. government to claim that they have met five conditions when they never articulated what those conditions were. It was pure political spin by Ms. Clark to say that our conditions are suddenly met. They were never met because they never had conditions.”

On campaign finance reform: “The B.C. Liberal approach was to strike a committee much akin to … have a plan to develop a plan to come up with a plan. They would kind of kick that can down the road.”

Weaver scoffed at Liberal expectations that the final count would flip the result in their favour in the close call riding of Courtenay-Comox.

“That’s highly unlikely in light of the fact that absentee ballots typically are people like students who are voting at other universities or out of town. The B.C. NDP won the absentee ballot there in the last election despite the fact that the Liberals won the seat.”

Weaver was still building up a head of steam against the Liberals at the media conference when one of his staffers called “time” and yanked him away, the first time I have seen any one doing that to the big-talking Green leader.

So, to recap, the Liberals are reckless and irresponsible, their plans bogus to non-existent, their hopes unfounded.

Not much of a basis for establishing a working relationship, particularly given the outreach to the Greens from the other side of the political spectrum.

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This while a quintet of green-tinged NDP veterans — Jim Beattie, Corky Evans, Tom Perry, Joan Sawicki and Dave Zirnhelt — issued an open letter calling on their party to enter into a formal coalition with the Greens.

In short, as the week ended, the conditions seemed to be falling into place for a Green-NDP alliance, if not a full-blown Weaver-Horgan coalition government.

http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-b-c-liberals-od...

I'm wondering how accurate this actually is.

Oh, what a tangled web weaves Weaver

Green economics? Mark Milke in the Calgary Herald noted that “it might be premature to put away the hard hats in forestry, mining, oil and gas. Jock Finlayson, chief policy officer for the Business Council of B.C., noted just last month that B.C.’s entire clean technology sector – the ‘new economy’ – has only the value of a single B.C. forestry company, Canfor.’’

- See more at: http://www.nsnews.com/opinion/columnists/lautens-oh-what-a-tangled-web-w...

http://www.nsnews.com/opinion/columnists/lautens-oh-what-a-tangled-web-w...

Bingo!

Martyn Brown: Why John Horgan is really in the driver's seat

Horgan must play the long game

So far, Weaver has played his hand pretty, darn well. If anything, he has made both Clark and Horgan look a bit desperate.

I suspect both of those leaders’ negotiating teams have already surrendered far more than they should or need to, to curry the Greens’ favour, given how the game is likely to play out.

Yet in a sense, Horgan can’t lose. At least not for long. Not if he plays his cards right.

He did better than most expected in coming as close as he did to winning, and he might yet come out on top after all the dust settles, with the Greens’ support.

So long as he doesn’t hand Clark a winning election issue, by siding with Weaver on his antidemocratic push for PR without a prior vote of public approval, he should not fear another quick election brought about by the Greens’ intransigence.

In poker, players make stupid mistakes in their lust for the jackpot. Horgan cannot allow his good judgement to be blinded by the gold that glitters on the negotiating table. The power that looks ripe for the taking is not worth any compromise, at any long-term cost.

Clark’s knock against Horgan in the election was that he is supposedly “weak”. It is the one quality he cannot afford to inadvertently convey.

He can dispel that charge in a big way by standing strong and by holding true to his party’s principles and policies, in a determined and collegial effort to earn the Greens’ support in a minority government situation. He can’t afford to cave on his party’s promised referendum on proportional representation, prior to its adoption.

He cannot allow himself to be terrorized by Weaver’s use of the Liberals as a tactical foil to convince him to effectively throw in the towel and give the Greens more than smart play dictates.

Sure, Horgan wants to be premier and the NDP wants to form the government. But whether they want to admit it to themselves or not, all parties are already in a protracted war that only the Greens hope both the NDP and Liberals will lose by serving up pyrrhic victories.

Of all the leaders at the bargaining table, Horgan should feel the least pressured. Whether he wins this round or not, he is already strategically well-situated to fight and win the next one.

I expect he and Weaver both understand that.

If the opportunity for an NDP minority government still exists after all the votes are counted, I will be shocked if they both do not happily embrace it.

Because for the NDP and the Green party alike, it is obviously the best play.

Both in terms of what they could accomplish together for our province, and in best positioning themselves to fight the next election, whenever that might be. 

http://www.straight.com/news/912941/martyn-brown-why-john-horgan-really-...

Narrow window exists for John Horgan to become premier

http://vancouversun.com/news/politics/rob-shaw-narrow-window-exists-for-...

B.C. Greens not looking so chaste after columnist reveals party asked a developer for $30,000

http://www.straight.com/news/913006/bc-greens-not-looking-so-chaste-afte...

http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-provincial-ele...

So this week starting tomorrow, we have the Comox recount, the Absentee Ballots count, and John Horgan has how long is it again to become Premier, before Judy Guichon forces another election upon us? And guess who appointed her LG, eh!  

Take note of who won the Courtenay-Comox riding at least so far, and then notice whose picture goes first in the article. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-s-provincial-election...

Conciliation simply not in premier’s DNA

http://www.nsnews.com/opinion/columnists/good-conciliation-simply-not-in...

Reviewing things that went wrong for B.C. parties in recent campaign

http://www.straight.com/news/912881/dermod-travis-reviewing-things-went-...

In other words if the NDP and the Greens combine to form a majority government it's game over for Clark, and she must resign. Over to you Andrew Weaver. Either you keep Christy Clark in office or you don't. 

Sorting out who will govern B.C. after all the ballots are counted

However, some guiding constitutional principles need to be understood, and perhaps the most important one is surprisingly seldom mentioned: that the election process is not over until a government wins a vote of confidence in the legislature. This is because election night only decides who fills the seats in the legislature, and those MLAs then decide who forms the government.

In one sense, it does not matter how long a government waits to meet the legislature or to hold its first vote of confidence. No new election should be called if the government loses that first vote of confidence, as long as another party has a realistic chance of forging a majority. The lieutenant-governor has a duty to refuse the call for fresh elections if another party leader can win enough support in the legislature to govern.

The other foundational rule is that a party that can command a majority in the legislature has a right to govern. The rule is crystal clear when an opposition party can form a majority: the premier must tender his or her resignation when the election results become clear. That premier only remains in office as a caretaker until the new premier is ready to take over.

With that rule in mind, there is no logical reason why a premier should not also resign if opposition leaders sign a document committing their parties to work together.

If parties, with a majority of the newly elected members between them, make it publicly and formally clear that a viable alternative government is ready to assume office, there is no doubt that a new government can be formed with a majority in the legislature.

While a premier has a general right to remain in office and to meet the new legislature, that right is trumped by the right of another party with a majority to form the government.

http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/heard-sorting-out-who-will-g...

Has anyone seen any changes yet?

Final count voting results will be refreshed at 10 a.m., noon, 2 p.m., and 5 p.m.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/sec.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbi...

Actually it had changed to 268 so nothing has moved so far.

http://www.tricitynews.com/news/update-ndp-denied-recount-in-coquitlam-b...

So the Greens wanted corporate donations. So what? Yes let's get big money out of politics but until we have that level playing field who can fault the Greens for going after some? 

At what point does Compromise let Hypocrisy rule?

But please, let’s not pretend that doing one thing that is diametrically opposite to what was promised is somehow "compromise".　

It is hypocrisy. Pure and simple.

And the truth is, some hypocrisies are simply worse than others.

The worst of all them would be for the B.C. Green party to essentially sell its soul for a "quick win" on proportional representation, in partnership with a government and a party that they well know deserves to be consigned to rot fo a while in purgatory.

As I have been arguing since the election, the Greens should have no truck or trade with the Clark government, or with the B.C. Liberal agenda that is so abjectly at odds with the Greens’ platform and with their ostensible raison d'être.

And close behind on that score would be if the NDP were to ever drink the Greens’ Kool-Aid on its preferred model for advancing PR.

It is demonstrably undemocratic and hypocritical beyond belief.

Making that wrong choice would only serve to compromise Horgan and his party in an unconscionsable way that is untenable and also politically shortsighted.

On that point, as on the need for a sensible alliance in the form of a time-limited NDP-Green partnership, the parties should compromise as warranted.

But not to the extent of letting hypocrisy rule.　

http://www.straight.com/news/913336/martyn-brown-what-point-does-comprom...