So we wait….
The other day I posted a snarky comment on Facebook about the pathetic performance of the right wing opposition parties in the Alberta Legislature, to which an old friend of mine in Vancouver replied, “Dave, you’re in BC now. Gotta let the Alberta wing nuts go and concentrate on the ones we have here.”
Well, I will — just as soon as I know which wing nuts are in and which wing nuts are out.
And that’s apparently going to take the better part of another week.
Those of you following BC politics will recall those long ago days of early May — the 9th, to be exact — when British Columbians went to the polls and delivered a result that can best be described as inconclusive.
Liberals, 43 seats…NDP, 41…Greens, 3. Needed for a majority, 44.
We were told the next day that we would know the final results on the 24th, once the votes had been recounted in a couple of close ridings and all the absentee ballots — 179,000 of them — had been tallied as well.
Absentee voting is apparently a thing in my new home province. (I’m learning there are many things here that are “a thing” that were no such thing in my old home province.)
So, this week BC Elections announced the final results. No change in the seat count, nobody has a majority, and the Liberals won the vote count by by a mere 1,566 votes province-wide.
So the Greens remain the kingmakers. They could decide to prop up the Liberals in some sort of formal arrangement; they could decide to form a coalition with the New Democrats to put them into power; or they could just go day-to-day, supporting the Liberals on a case-by-case basis until they decide not to — which would trigger another election, some months from now.
So what is Green leader Andrew Weaver going to do?
He says he’ll let us know next Wednesday.
So we wait…
