The speaker of the house position is the talk of the political town this week from Tom Fletcher’s column to the CBC.
Following the B.C. election, Christy Clark said it was clear that voters want parties to work together and with the Greens and NDP agreeing to work together, they seemed to echo a similar message.
It, however, is quickly becoming clear that none of them truly believe this.
All 43 elected Liberal MLAs indicated at a caucus meeting they would not stand for speaker of the house. Andrew Weaver said his party wouldn’t be putting forward a speaker and the NDP haven’t yet given their final decision (source: Reuters).
If the NDP or Greens were to put one of their MLAs forward a speaker, a position that’s supposed to be impartial and not vote with any specific party, it would mean a tie between the NDP-Green and Liberals. If the Liberals put forward a speaker they end the tie but it also means giving up being in government. If no speaker is elected, the lieutenant-governor could be forced to call an election (presuming the speaker doesn’t turn partisan by voting with the NDP).
If the Liberals believed or accepted (take your pick) that voters want co-operation, they could be the “bigger party” and put up a speaker, accepting an NDP government. If the NDP and Greens believed or accepted that voters want co-operation, they would leave the Liberals in power in a minority government, essentially forcing the Liberals to put forward bills and budgets that cater to the NDP and Greens.
The other thing this means is that the Greens of B.C. aren’t “king makers” (as reported immediately following the election). Rather, if the Liberals refuse to present a speaker, it would appear the Greens’ choice is/was between propping up the Liberals or going for another election.
One expert during an interview on the CBC this week was already calling for a new election to avoid a stalemate or partisan speaker. It is hard to imagine many voters would be happy about repeating the campaign.
However, let’s consider it for a moment. In such an event, voter turnout would likely go down (you’d expect that to favour the Liberals). Financially, you’d expect the Liberals are in a much better position to run another campaign given they raised far more money than the NDP and the Greens in the run-up to the election.
At the end of the day, it appears the Liberals have two choices: put up a speaker and officially become opposition or refuse to put up a speaker with one of two consequences: a new election in which they stand a good chance to improve their election results or continue to reign as a minority government with partial support from the other parties. Seems to me that regardless of what the Greens and NDP do, the Liberals “won” the last election.