Election Result Causes Uncertainty
Prince George, B.C. – So, what does the uncertainty of this election result mean in terms of governing in the short term?
The tribal Chief of the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council, Terry Teegee, says with the prospect of us having a minority government “really there’s a lot of questions in the air because more often than not in minority governments a lot of things don’t get done. It’s much like this whole election, a lot of unanswered questions.”
Teegee says no matter whether it is First Nations matters or issues of concern to the general public, “to get a bill passed or a policy made is going to be quite difficult because, obviously, you’ve got two parties that are at loggerheads and history states that minority governments fail. So where does it go from there?”
Asked whether a minority government might be forced into being more “above board” Teegee says “well it might. There’s always influence to play on that third party that could possibly sway your favour.”
“But I think it’s going to be interesting to see what transpires and, if this is a minority government, the true colours of the Green Party.”
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business Vice-president for BC and Alberta, Richard Truscott, says a minority government “is going to produce quite a bit of uncertainty for BC small businesses and right across the economy in general, quite frankly, and that’s not good. So, if there was a way that we could see some more clarity to the political situation that would be a wise thing to attempt to achieve because uncertainty is never a good thing in the economy or for businesses, and that’s certainly the situation that were in right now.”
Truscott says a minority situation slows the process of moving ahead with policy on the part of government. “Absolutely it does, it turns the situation into a much more political dynamic putting the focus on brokering deals and politics, and not on policy and that’s unfortunate. It becomes more about political wrangling that actually getting the affairs of the province done.”
Comments
What we need is a coalition between the Greens and the NDP. This would form the Government and put the Liberals into the opposition. In fact it would be even better if a few Liberals crossed the floor and joined the Green, NDP, coalition, this would give them a bigger majority and allow the Government to function.
With a Green/NDP Coalition we get new blood into Government. We get rid of the Liberal Cabinet Ministers, and political hacks that were appointed to run the Government entities, such as BC Hydro, and we would be able to look at the books and see just how lousy a Government the Liberals actually were.
Having the Liberals sit in opposition would be a great experience for them. They would be able to reflect on how things were, and how they could have been.
Unfortunately if we have a Green/NDP coalition we here in the North will not have any representation in Government. We will have Liberal MLA’s in opposition.
One byelection could change the tide from minority to majority
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