By David MacDonald A one-seat majority government in Canada’s fast- est-growing province means that alliances like the one NDP Premier John Horgan forged with the Green Party during one British Columbia’s most close- ly-won elections in recent memory are critical to the former pulp mill worker’s transformative agenda. Their coalition gives them 43 seats to match the official opposition’s 43 seats. The tie-breaking vote in the house goes to the now-vacant role of Speaker after Liberal Steve Thomson resigned amongst chaos and clamour in late June. Outgoing Liberal premier Christy Clark told Bloomberg in late June that “This isn’t a working legislature. And I haven’t seen any evidence it could work.”
among many British Columbians. And in a note to clients obtained by Bloomberg, Warren Lovely, a chief analyst with the National Bank of Canada, said “What we really aim to highlight is the enviable economic and fiscal position British Columbia finds itself in on the eve of what could be a new political era.” Lovely’s comments could be viewed as a shrouded message to the Greens in the house who see the NDP’s position on LNG [liquefied natural gas] projects as a potential wedge in the critical alliance. Whether the seemingly uneasy coalition government gets past these issues remains to be seen, but regardless of who’s in charge, the majority of British Columbians want leadership that’s creating jobs and maintaining an expo- nentially-growing revenue stream. If Horgan can’t keep up with the precedent set by Clark and her predecessors, there might be a snap election on the Pacific Coast sooner than later. Source(s): Bloomberg, the Globe and Mail
But is she right?
Clark and the Liberals are understandably protective of BC’s $2.8 billion CDN budget surplus.
Over the course of their 16 consecutive years in power in the province, the Liberals gained the reputation of a cash cow
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JULY 2017 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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