B.C. Greens Support NDP. Adios Christy.

The B.C. Liberal government's reign appears to be at an end. The Green Party has agreed to support the Horgan NDP.

The agreement, announced by Green Leader Andrew Weaver and NDP Leader John Horgan at a news conference in Victoria, would see the Greens and New Democrats use their combined one-seat majority in the legislature to bring down the BC Liberals. The Greens would then agree to support an NDP government in confidence votes, such as throne speeches or budgets, for four years.

“In the end, we had to make a difficult decision – that decision was for the B.C. Greens to work together to provide a stable minority government for the four-year term,” said Mr. Weaver.

Details of the agreement, which both Mr. Weaver and Mr. Horgan said ran “many pages,” were not released on Monday.

Mr. Weaver said he and the other two Green members in the legislature have signed on, while Mr. Horgan said his caucus would vote on ratifying the agreement on Tuesday.

Mr. Weaver had set out three “deal breakers” that include official party status, campaign finance reform and proportional representation, although other issues, including the party’s opposition to several Liberal resource priorities, also would have factored into such talks. 

The announcement should sit well with most British Columbians. From The Tyee:

Just over half of respondents to an Insights West survey released Friday said they believed the Greens should support the NDP led by John Horgan, while 38 per cent wanted the Greens to help the BC Liberal Party and leader Christy Clark hold government.

Among Green voters, the preference for supporting the NDP was even more pronounced, with 62 per cent favouring a Green-NDP alliance. Less than 25 per cent of Green voters favoured backing the Liberals.

The poll, conducted online between May 22 and 25, surveyed 803 adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Insights also found that just over half of British Columbians are satisfied with the current first-past-the-post electoral system. Almost two-thirds said any change should be put to a referendum.

The Green Party’s election platform called for introducing proportional representation without a referendum. The NDP promised to introduce and campaign for a new electoral system but said any change must be approved in a referendum.