To heck with the protocol

Jun 11, 2017 | 12:00 PM

KAMLOOPS —It hasn’t taken John Horgan long to want to grasp the reins of power in British Columbia. Shortly after the election, Horgan was all smiles and congeniality, having led his party to a moral, if not outright victory by denying the Liberals another majority government. Then he and Andrew Weaver talked, and the Green Party agreed to support the NDP in trying to run a minority government. Remember, this is not a coalition, but simply an agreement of support, which is certainly more beneficial to the NDP, and Horgan would be “the man”. So he’s now two for two. Then he suggested he wouldn’t mind if Christy Clark tested the confidence of the Liberals in the Legislature, but when Clark decided to do that, and recall the Legislature June 22nd, Horgan suddenly decided it was taking far too long to give him the opportunity to govern. Suddenly, Clark should have done it sooner, should call the confidence vote immediately, and get on with the defeat of government so he can sit in the big seat. The whole thing is a sham in any event. We know by now that no one wants to give up an MLA to be speaker of the house. Not the Liberals, not the NDP and not the Greens. With such a narrow gap separating the parties, quite frankly, it will be virtually impossible to govern. And if I were Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon, I would simply have another election, in the hopes that one party or the other would gain a majority, which is the only way the province can really run successfully. All this talk about people voting for more consultation in the province, as touted by the opposition, is just rhetoric. Everyone is good at twisting numbers around so they can be read to benefit them. There’s always something good for everyone, somewhere, if you peel the layers off the onion far enough. The Greens and NDP are fond of suggesting that 60 percent of the population voted against a return of the Liberal government. Since the NDP and Liberals were within a point of each other in the popular vote, then it also stands to reason that 60 percent of the population were also against forming an NDP government. And though they substantially increased their share of the popular vote, it’s clear that not many voted to form a Green government either. If you suggest that people in the Lower Mainland voted strong NDP because they didn’t like Liberal policies for solving their issues in the large population centres, it’s also true that outside the Lower Mainland, people didn’t buy into John Horgan’s policies for helping their areas. While the Liberals dropped in popular support, dropping just under 4 percent, the NDP didn’t gain much, rising less than a point in popular support. The only party that really did well was the Green Party. So take everything with a grain of salt. The rhetoric, the numbers, the blustering, and put it aside. The only way we’ll really govern properly is with a new election and a majority government. And that would be better coming sooner rather than later. All this talk about British Columbians voting for more change and conciliation is just pap. Let’s get on with what we know is going to happen, get the people to vote again, find a majority, of whatever stripe, and get on with the job.