Don’t look now, but B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver may have just given opponents of proportional representation – something he strongly supports – a formidable weapon.
Weaver’s bolt-from-the-blue promise to bring down the NDP government if it dares to support a liquefied natural gas industry has been pounced on with glee by the anti-PR side. They view Weaver’s threat as evidence of the instability inherent in the kinds of minority governments that will inevitably result from an election fought under proportional representation.
Bill Tieleman, co-chair of the No B.C. Proportional Representation Society, minced no words in an email to me: “Not only are Andrew Weaver and the B..C Green Party creating political instability, they are creating economic instability – where businesses and investors have no idea from one day to the next what might become an issue for the B.C. Greens to bring down the government.”
The NDP’s position on LNG hasn’t changed for several years. It supports the industry and the LNG projects that could be built, subject to several conditions (First Nations are partners, jobs are created for British Columbians, climate action objectives can be met, and a fair return on the resource can be realized).
It’s true that the NDP mocked former Premier Christy Clark’s lofty claims about the benefits of an LNG industry, but that was when the party was sitting in Opposition. Now that it has crossed over into government, the NDP has (not surprisingly) taken up the job of wooing the industry to set up shop in B.C.
In fact, Premier John Horgan is in China this week to talk to potential LNG investors, among others. In media interviews before he left, he expressed optimism at least one or two projects will eventually materialize. He’s talking like a premier, rather than like the Opposition leader.
It’s another example of the “practical pragmatism” approach the NDP is employing as it settles into government. It has made big promises on the “affordability” front, which will require significant revenue streams to fund. A couple of LNG projects would come in quite handy in providing that kind of revenue.
Enter Weaver from his vacation condo in California. In a series of tweets, he vowed several times he will bring down the NDP government if LNG rears its head in B.C. Allowing the industry to get a toehold will inevitably mean greenhouse gas reduction targets cannot be met, Weaver argues.
The NDP is flummoxed and in a state of bewilderment. Government officials tell me their LNG position was discussed with Weaver during those negotiations between the two parties that led to the Confidence and Supply Agreement.
The party no doubt feels blindsided by Weaver’s threat, although Weaver feels the same way about the NDP’s push for LNG. And even though said in the summer that switching to proportional representation was his top priority, he now says fighting climate change trumps that and is the real reason he got into politics in the first place.
“There is no way I will stand by and allow future generations under the bus by a bunch of politicians who gave them hope but now throw them under a bus,” he told me in Twitter message.
The confidence agreement (known as CASA) stipulates the BC Green MLAs will support the NDP during confidence votes, as long as there are “no surprises.” Well, Weaver now thinks supporting LNG ranks as a “surprise” and told me in a Twitter message that he feels he has been “misled.”
Now, Weaver’s threat may well be an empty one (he has shown considerable capacity for changing his mind on some things). And any LNG project is still at least months away from approval – perhaps even longer – so presumably Weaver won’t have a reason to vote against a confidence vote anytime soon.
Or perhaps he will.
Ironically, this uncertainty is playing right into the hands of the emerging campaign against switching to proportional representation.
Tieleman notes Weaver once said the NDP-B.C. Green alliance would prove how a proportional representation-elected government would work. “I don’t think he realized at the time how accurate his words would be – but in an extremely negative way,” he told me.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global B.C.
