Federal Liberals to reinforce Trans Mountain pipeline support with B.C.

Christy Clark’s Liberals were barely re-elected Tuesday to B.C.’s first minority government since 1952, with the Greens poised to hold the balance of power.

“Whatever the outcome is, whether it’s a minority or a majority, I do intend to work across party lines”, she told reporters Wednesday. “I’m really excited. I came into tonight with an very bad lot of confidence that we had done what it would take”.

Technically, trans-provincial pipelines are a federal responsibility, not provincial. “If the Greens cave in on that and go along with them (the Liberals), that’s not going to help Weaver all that much”, said Meredith, suggesting going against his anti-pipeline voters’ beliefs would not help him at the polls next time.

“BC Greens have said we can work with anyone”, Weaver said.

“No one at this point has got a majority”.

The Liberals took 40.84 per cent of the popular vote, compared to 39.86 per cent for the NDP and 16.75 per cent for the Greens. Clark continues to push for liquefied natural gas development, which Weaver derides as a “pipe dream” where the global energy market has passed B.C.by. Her move targets U.S. miners, such as Cloud Peak Energy Inc. which ships out of Vancouver’s Westshore Terminals Investment Corp., because environmental opposition along the U.S. West Coast has blocked export terminals there.

Clark invoked USA uncertainty in arguing for unity. “They nearly elected me the last time and now look where we are …”

But absentee ballots are being tallied, recounts are underway and the final numbers could spell a narrow Liberal majority. “In 2013, we had one judicial recount”, said Watson, referring to Coquitlam-Maillardville, where the NDP’s Selina Robinson won by 41 votes.

Reflecting a deepening rural-urban divide, the Liberals won 43 of the province’s 87 electoral ridings, or districts, just shy of the 44 needed to form a majority.

Likewise, Clark’s dream of a liquefied natural gas industry in her province supplying lucrative Asian markets could be shattered if the NDP and Greens govern. The NDP get more of a boost from the absentee ballots than the Liberals do.

The Liberals broke out to an early lead, but the seats in favour of the NDP grew swiftly as more votes were counted. The Green Party won three seats, but is now poised to have disproportionate sway.

Andrew Weaver is applauded by his supporters at the B.C. Green Party Headquarters at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort.

Both the big B.C. parties desperately need Weaver, who has a doctorate in applied mathematics, and was a lead science author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. If the governing party isn’t able gain support for confidence bills (Throne Speech, budget, etc.), the government would lose the confidence. The NDP and Greens have promised an outright ban on corporate and union donations.

For the first time in British Columbia’s modern history, a provincial election will be decided by the tens of thousands of absentee ballots that are usually an afterthought for most people. Their leader Andrew Weaver has already received several overtures from Christy Clark of the BC Liberals and John Horgan of the New Democrats, and the coming weeks, if not months, will likely witness intense negotiations more common in the continental democracies of Europe, where proportional voting systems regularly produce outcomes like Tuesday’s.

“British Columbians sent a very strong message to all sides of the legislature”.

The NDP also do not support the pipeline project.

The Liberals, for their part, are also looking for ways to appeal to Mr. Weaver.

With Green Candidates claiming larger vote counts than expected in a number of ridings across the province, Olsen added, “I think it’ going to be a wake up call for the other two parties”.