Premier John Horgan’s explanation of why he hasn’t got around to calling a byelection in Kelowna West brought to mind the farewell remarks by the previous MLA from Kelowna West.
Former premier Christy Clark’s throne speech last summer was short on logic, a touch self-absorbed and disintegrated under scrutiny. Horgan’s justification for subsequently shutting those Okanagan constituents out of his crucial first legislative sitting falls just as short as she did.
Her speech failed, and she quit the seat Aug. 4 after her government fell. Horgan has let the matter of letting people pick a successor slide since then.
His rationale in a media scrum this week was just like the Okanagan weather — cold and cloudy. He said he’s “committed to holding a byelection within the time the Constitution Act provides [six months].”
So he’s promising to obey the law. Reassuring, but widely assumed to be a given.
He said his minority government means “we have additional responsibilities in the legislature than we would have normally.”
Sounds as if he could use a hand. Why not call the byelection and see if they can win the seat?
“We’ve been pretty busy.”
All he has to do is dictate a one-line cabinet order and sign it. No one expects him to campaign extensively.
Also offered was the excuse that Christmas is coming.
It’s a valid point, but he’s the one who ran the clock right into the Christmas season.
It can’t possibly be called until early January now, which would produce an MLA for the riding by mid-February.
But waiting until the last possible day on Feb. 4 isn’t out of the question. That would leave the riding unrepresented through the first few weeks of the next session, when confidence votes come up.
It’s pretty clear that in a 41-41 house with his government hanging on the support of the three Greens, the political arithmetic is a lot more important than the principles of fair representation the NDP is going on about while debating the bill for a referendum on a new voting system.
No premier would admit that publicly. But Horgan goes further and denies there’s even a problem.
“I don’t think they’re being cut out at all. We’re having a referendum next November and there’ll be plenty of time to debate that. What we’re debating in the legislature now is the process to bring that forward.
“I don’t believe that citizens are being denied representation … I’m confident the people of Kelowna West will feel represented by the outcome and they will be full participants next October, November.”
But they have no one representing their views on the process for the referendum. So of course they’re shut out.
Citing the lumber dispute, the fires and the Site C decision, he said: “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now. I think the citizens of Kelowna West will cut me some slack if I get to calling a byelection in the next few weeks rather than today.”
Calling byelections is the premier’s prerogative, and he’s intent on abusing it as much as Clark did. As noted here this week, she delayed some byelections almost to the maximum extent for no good reason. But when she needed a seat, she called them much more quickly.
It would be just another example of gamesmanship, except for one thing: The crucial bill on which Kelowna West is shut out is about a referendum on proportional representation.
It’s the most important political change in more than 60 years, and while the NDP is harping on the importance of fair representation, it is shutting one riding out of the debate on how to conduct it. It’s simply because they presume a vote would reduce their slim edge in the house by one.
Green Leader Andrew Weaver was asked about the delay and made it clear he doesn’t think it’s an issue.
Driving toward proportional representation — a dream come true for the Greens — is the key part of the confidence agreement, and that comes before all else.
Whatever the NDP and Greens come up with next year on the matter of fair representation, keep in mind they set the groundwork while deliberately denying 45,000 voters any representation at all.
That’s the way it looks from here.
But as the premier invited reporters to do: “Draw your own conclusions.”
