NDP leader John Horgan says the resumption of the B.C. Legislature today is a futile exercise with an old government that does not have the support of the majority trying to hold onto power, and tabling a speech that sounds like NDP and Greens campaign literature.
He says the whole process has been drawn out unnecessarily as the Liberals know they do knot have the support of the house and will face a vote of non-confidence, clearing the way for a minority N-D-P government supported by the Green party.
The NDP intends to expedite things immediately after the throne speech:
" We will propose that we dispense with the reading of the debate and vote on it right away, and you need unanimous consent to do that. So we'll ask the house "Let's vote on it today". So it could be that Monday is the confidence vote, but I'm being told that the Liberals are not going to give consent. They are going to continue to debate their NDP Throne speech, and then we'll have a vote on Thursday."
Horgan says once it becomes obvious the Liberals don't have the support of the majority the premier will, presumably, tender her resignation to the Lieutenant Governor.
"The Lieutenant Governor traditionally, again I can't presume what she will do, will ask the leader of the opposition, who is me, if I have majority support. And with the support of Andrew Weaver and the Green caucus, and my caucus of 41 we have a majority. So we assume she will ask if I can form a government and I will say yes. And then we'll go into the process
of cabinet selection and the transition to a new government which would probably happen in the middle of July."
Horgan is says while Clark says publicly that she is prepared to work together with other parties, actions speak louder than words. For instance he says normally the government tells parties who they will nominate for speaker, but Clark didn't divulge the information:
" We had for 8 years Bill Barisoff, long-serving speaker. For 4 years we had Linda Reid. And now we're not certain. We've asked the Liberals who they'll put up and they won't tell us. It kind of puts the lie to this notion that they want to work together when they won't even tell us who they're nominating."
We now know the Speaker is Steve Thompson of Kelowna-Mission. Horgan had said the NDP would put someone up if the Liberals did not.