BURST
The B.C. Greens announced Monday that the agreement they had with the NDP to provide the government support on key confidence votes is no more. The announcement came minutes after the premier said talks on its renewal were continuing.
Party Leader Emily Lowan said the decision to rip up the co-operation and responsible government accord, also known as CARGA, was made after the government failed to complete two-thirds of the actions the NDP had committed to in March of last year when it was signed.
That includes the $15 million promised to expand community health centres and expanding public transit along corridors, such as the Sea to Sky Highway.
“This agreement began as an opportunity to stabilize an NDP government and deliver shared priorities for British Columbians. CARGA was a commitment not just to us, but to British Columbians who wanted real action on what matters to them and a stable government in a deeply troubling time,” Lowan told reporters at the legislature.
“The Greens upheld our side of the agreement, voted confidence where it was specified, and there were real results for British Columbians that came out of this. But when it came to deliver action on community health centres, transit in the Sea to Sky, or public coverage for psychologists, the NDP simply failed.”
An annual review process of the agreement began in the fall after the election of Lowan as the leader of the party. She replaced Sonia Furstenau, who stepped down at the end of January 2025.
Green MLAs Rob Botterell and Jeremy Valeriote said they will now decide how to vote on a case-by-case basis, although they have already been doing largely that when it comes to legislation.
Attorney General Niki Sharma, who had been leading the negotiations for the renewal of the deal on behalf of the NDP, argued the impasse came down to disagreements on what constituted a confidence vote.
“As the Greens won’t rule out on voting with the Conservatives on confidence measures to trigger an election, we were unable to find common ground. British Columbians don’t want an election — they want us to take action on the things that matter to them,” she said.
Although the government is unlikely to fall due to the absence of an agreement with the Greens, the NDP’s one-seat majority leaves them vulnerable if any of their MLAs are unable to vote.
Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA Grace Lore and Vancouver-Strathcona MLA Joan Phillip have both received treatment for medical problems over the past year, with Lore taking an extended period of time off for cancer treatment.
Premier David Eby seemed confident while speaking to reporters before the Green’s announcement that he has the votes to push ahead with his spring legislative agenda as the government gets prepared to table its budget on Feb. 17.
But he seemed to be unaware that Lowan and her MLAs had decided to rip up the accord and would be putting out a statement to that effect mere minutes after he finished speaking.
“I think it would be exciting to have a provincial, federal and municipal elections all in the same week. But I don’t see any prospects of that. We have the votes we need, including members that have been struggling with serious clinical diagnoses and treatment,” said Eby.
“We are engaging with the Greens, we’re trying to find a path with them where we can find co-operation. We will do that and I don’t have any update other than to say we are still engaged with the Greens.”
More to come …