Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett is awaiting the scene in legislature just like everyone else in the province looking for the outcome once the B.C. government is called back in session.
“We’ll wait until the legislature is called back.”
After the BC Greens and BC NDP announced their plans to work together to form a minority government the NDP’s 41 seats with the Greens’ three seats ousting the Liberals’ 43 seats, there is now the strong possibility of BC Premier Christy Clark losing her leadership to NDP leader John Horgan.
After members of both the Green and NDP parties signed a detailed agreement on May 30 outlining policy issues, the recently re-elected Liberal MLA Barnett says her commitment won’t change to the constituents in the Cariboo-Chilcotin she has served for eight years (since 2008).
The signing of the agreement did not stop Christy Clark from announcing Tuesday she plans to stay on as premier, and Barnett explains she will await the result in legislature before commenting further to the media.
“I can tell you, I will work as hard as I have, and harder, for the best interests of the people of my riding and of rural British Columbia.”
While Clark agreed she would likely lose a confidence vote in the legislature, the current Premier expressed her duty under constitutional convention to face a vote, and if she lost, said she would resign as premier and remain as leader of the opposition.
Back in the Cariboo-Chilcotin, the past election’s Green candidate Rita Giesbrecht and NDP candidate Sally Watson both expressed their pleasure at the news.
“I’m very excited,” Giesbrecht said. “Of course it’s unpredictable what Christy and the Liberals will do, but the long-term outcome is that there is going to be an NDP/Green Party moving forward and we will have principled decision making in B.C. which we haven’t seen.”
Watson said forming the minority government between her NDP party and the Green party was “the right thing to do” and she “could not imagine going back” to an election.
The two party platforms forming the new NDP agreement were close enough they could work together, she added.
“Because our Liberal MLA could be part of the opposition, it could be very interesting,” Watson said.
With files from Monica Lamb-Yorski.