Stop the duelling news conferences and start governing

Finance Minister Mike de Jong is also the BC Liberals' government house leader.

Mike de Jong, Abbotsford West MLA (who also represents northeast Langley) was the latest provincial politician to hold a news conference. His took place today, in Vancouver. De Jong is the government house leader and also minister of finance.
He (quite rightly) said it is not up to the BC Liberals to strengthen the hand of an NDP minority government which will likely take office when the BC Liberals lose the confidence of the B.C. legislature. He does not expect a BC Liberal to stay on as Speaker once the government falls. A Liberal will likely to become Speaker on June 22, when the legislature is scheduled to meet. That will allow the government to present a throne speech
He is also correct that the NDP-Green agreement seems quite shaky. We will know best how strong it is after there is an NDP minority government in place. For now, Green Party leader Andrew Weaver is making irresponsible statement after irresponsible statement, which must cause NDP leader John Horgan to at least inwardly wince.
Weaver said at yesterday's press conference that if the BC Liberals' Speaker resigned and didn't stay in office after the government falls, forcing an NDP or Green MLA to become Speaker, it is a "constitutional crisis." Excuse me?
He has also lectured the NDP premier of Alberta, flippantly suggested that jobs outside Metro Vancouver and Victoria are "old economy" and hardly worth bothering about and made a number of other reckless, damaging and irresponsible statements.
One wonders if he has spent too much of his life in academia, and not enough out in the real world, where most working people have jobs without tenure. Many don't even have pensions, let alone indexed ones. He certainly sounds as clueless about how difficult it is to make a living and feed a family as some of my Simon Fraser University professors did back in the early 1970s, when SFU was a hotbed of campus radicalism.
It's time to end the duelling press conferences, and get on with governing. The election took place on May 9. It took several weeks to determine who won the Courtenay-Comox seat, but the counting is over.
I believe de Jong and his BC Liberal counterparts need to stop dragging out this charade that they can somehow govern when a majority of MLAs are prepared to vote against them. They simply don't have the votes.
There needs to be a throne speech. There is no reason the legislature couldn't stay in session on Friday (June 23) and have it then, but don't expect the BC Liberals to agree to that. It will likely take place on Monday, June 26. On the next sitting day, (likely June 27) there needs to be a vote of confidence. If the government loses, as expected, it must resign forthwith.
B.C. needs to have a government in place that can govern, at least for a period. There are plenty of important issues to deal with. The longer these political theatrics go on, the more challenging it will be to do so. Premier Christy Clark has often said that investors and business people need certainty in order to make important decisions. That's just as true for everyone else. She should follow her own advice, and ensure that a confidence vote is held as soon as possible.
De Jong said, according to a Canadian Press report, that after the throne speech, there will be the "required debate" before the expected confidence vote. Some have suggested that could take a number of days for that debate - days when the legislature actually sits - before there is a vote.
The House sits Mondays through Thursdays, and will not be sitting on July 3, which is the stat holiday for Canada Day. There needs to be a new government in place long before that.
There is no need for any debate on the throne speech. The speech should take place no later than June 25, and must be immediately followed by a confidence vote.

Comments

  1. rightwing16 June 2017 at 13:45

    The NDP must provide the speaker because the Liberals are not going to provide it

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown24 June 2017 at 19:54

    Frank, I would really like to hear your views on the Speaker issue and the possibilities and challenges that issue presents to the NDP when they take over.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown25 June 2017 at 09:42

    Yes. Now it is 43 against 43. Now what?

    ReplyDelete

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