NDP, Greens won’t consider legislation before confidence vote

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – The BC Liberals are planning to use the next few days in the Legislature to implement some of the items in their Throne Speech, but the opposition parties are having none of it.

Both the NDP and the Greens say they will not consider any legislation before the confidence of the House is tested.

Several Liberal bills, including a ban on union and corporate campaign donations, failed to pass first reading Monday afternoon.

“I am not at all interested in continuing to drag this on in the interest of the BC Liberals,” says NDP Leader John Horgan. “I’m interested in making sure the people of BC have a government that’s working for them, and when that government gets put in place, we will address campaign finance reform.”

Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver says in a statement that until the confidence of the House has been tested, it would not be “appropriate” to debate government bills.

The House must debate the Thone Speech for a minimum of four days, but a confidence vote can be moved up if MLAs unanimously decide to do it.

Instead, Premier Christy Clark is calling on opposition parties to support the Liberal agenda.

“The road to stability is not to defeat the Throne Speech and to risk an election… the road to stability is to support the Throne Speech, and ensure we can keep the business of government going on,” she says.

“This is not a session about the Premier testing legislation, this is about testing the confidence of the House,” Horgan counters. “That’s why we’re here, that’s why we should get on with it.”

Liberal House Leader Mike de Jong says he expects a confidence vote to happen late Thursday afternoon.

The NDP-Green alliance in the House means the Throne Speech would be narrowly defeated 44-42. At that point, the government would fall, and it would be up to Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon to decide what to do next.

 

 

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