Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Will new government be deja vu of last VSB?

The B.C. provincial election looks like a toss up, with a split vote and the Green party holding the balance of power.
That’s exactly what happened in the 2014 Vancouver municipal election for school trustees, which saw the right-of-centre NPA win four seats, the left-of-centre Vision party win four seats and the Green party left holding the ninth and deciding vote.
That didn’t end so well.
The entire board was fired last fall by the education minister for refusing to pass a balanced budget.
Before being fired, the lone Green trustee, Janet Fraser, sometimes voted with Vision, sometimes with NPA. There were lots of unanimous votes, but on any contentious issue, Fraser had to decide which way the board as a whole would go. She also held the deciding vote on who would be chairperson of the board, and she decided to alternate between the two other parties.
But that’s not how it works in provincial politics. A premier is a premier until their government falls. A government falls when it tries to pass a vote in the house but doesn’t get a majority of votes in its favour.
That’s why coalition governments are formed. As long as two parties agree to work together, they can ensure that a government doesn’t fall. When a government falls, an election is called.
So, if the Green party agrees to work with either the Liberals or the NDP, they will be kingmaker. The numbers make it possible that either the NDP or the Liberals could get a majority by teaming up with the Greens.
However, under a coalition government, anytime the ruling party wants to pass legislation, they need the support of the second party. That could mean major changes in B.C., regardless of which party gets the Greens’ support.
So which party will it be? So far, the Greens haven’t said. But I bet there's some wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes today. B.C. may be at a political stalemate for the next two weeks while recounts and absentee ballot counts are underway May 22 to 24. The Liberals could still pull off a majority if they keep all the seats they have and gain one more.
If the Greens do end up holding the balance of power, they’ve already said changes to political donations and the voting system are imperative. The Green platform also called for significant new funding for education, an expansion of the education system to pre-schoolers, the exploration of a guaranteed minimum income and support for youth aging out of care. Obviously, the Greens are not keen on pipelines, LNG and the like.
Weaver said during the campaign that he supported a byelection for the fired Vancouver school trustees. The NDP said they would either reinstate them or hold a byelection. Former Liberal Education Minister Mike Bernier, who was reelected with a strong majority, said the official trustee he appointed to take over would be in place for at least a year. We will have to wait until the dust settles on this election to see whose voice will win out the VSB.
Stay tuned. There’s never a dull moment in B.C. politics and this election is far from over.

Other education notes:

• The NDP’s Morgane Oger, an openly transgender candidate, came close to beating the Liberals’ Sam Sullivan in Vancouver-False Creek, where the results went back and forth all night and the final count saw Sullivan just 560 ahead. Oger was the head of Vancouver’s District Parent Advisory Council before deciding to run for the NDP.
• Former Liberal education minister Peter Fassbender lost his seat in Surrey-Fleetwood. One has to wonder whether being the government’s face through the 2014 teachers’ strike hurt his re-election chances. Several Surrey seats went to the NDP, which perhaps indicates anger over the 6,000 students there who go to school in portables. Bridge tolls probably didn’t help.

tracy.sherlock@gmail.com





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