The prospect of whether two provincial parties are willing to form a coalition government remained largely unanswered Wednesday as all three B.C. leaders spoke to reporters the night after a historic election that is still not over.
Premier Christy Clark, NDP leader John Horgan and Green leader Andrew Weaver held separate news conferences Wednesday in which they deflected reporters’ questions about any deal-making between parties.
“Whether it’s a minority or a majority, I do intend to make sure we work across party lines with parties that want to work with us,” said Clark in response to a question about forming a coalition with the Greens.
More than 170,000 ballots still need to be counted and Elections B.C. has said that could take a couple of weeks. A tight race in Courtenay-Comox could also change the vote spread, which currently sits at 43 seats for the Liberals, 41 for the NDP and three for the Greens.
Clark noted she’s had a good relationship with Weaver in the B.C. legislature, calling him a “smart, thoughtful, reasonable guy.” She pointed out Weaver is a supporter of the Liberals’ position to ban thermal coal.
In the previous government sitting, Clark supported Weaver’s bill to amend a mandatory requirement for some women to wear high heels in the workplace. She also backed Weaver in a bill that tackles sexual violence on post-secondary campuses.
Clark said she had yet to speak to Horgan but noted his party’s popular vote didn’t increase from the previous election. Reporters reminded the premier the Liberals’ vote decreased in this election, to which she remarked on the Greens’ success at the polls.
“What happened in this election is the Greens doubled their vote, they tripled their representation,” she said from the government’s offices at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver. “That was a really strong message that the citizens of British Columbia sent us. So we’re going to listen to that, and we’re going to make sure that we’re working across partisan lines together to find ways to respond to the message that British Columbians sent us in this election.”
Horgan spoke to Weaver on election night and he said they both agreed the Liberals failed British Columbians in several areas, including housing, child care and protection of the coast from oil tanker traffic. (Weaver later confirmed Horgan’s statement, saying it was accurate. The two parties also agree on a proportional representation voting system).
“My focus is on the people of British Columbia, and if Mr. Weaver and others want to join with me, I’m happy to do that,” said Horgan from a room at the Pinnacle Hotel, a few blocks from where Clark spoke to reporters.
Horgan repeated several times during the news conference that the Liberals did not win a majority and that almost 60 per cent of voters cast ballots for the NDP and Greens.
Though Horgan and Weaver sparred in election debates and in the legislature, Horgan said he was confident the values that he shares with Greens, including those of the two rookie Greens that he said he knows personally, “will come forward in the days and weeks ahead.”
At his news conference in Victoria, Weaver said the NDP and Liberals reached out to his party to set up meetings. Weaver said he looked forward “to working with whoever we decide has the most commonality with platforms.”
The Green leader said the number one issue for his party is to get the big money out of B.C. politics and ban union and corporate donations. The B.C. Liberals have only committed to striking an independent committee to study the issue, while the NDP campaigned on ending the “wild west” of large contributions to parties from unions and corporations.
“It’s a non-negotiable issue for us to support either of the parties,” said Weaver, but clarified other issues are open to compromise to create “good public policies.” He didn’t elaborate. “We understand what compromise means and we’re willing to compromise – of course. That’s the nature of good public policy. You have a diversity of views and you come together with a consensus. That’s the best way to actually move forward.”
Asked whether he could support a Liberal government, Weaver said it was too early to say, noting the absentee ballots still need to be counted.
“We don’t even know the final results yet,” he said, standing with newly elected Green MLAs Sonia Furstenau and Adam Olsen. “It would be premature for Adam, Sonia and I to actually exclude anything at this point. Certainly, we’re putting our platform and our priorities forward in going into conversations.”
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