Calling the situation “vexing,” the Finance critic for the opposition BC Conservatives is questioning the motivation of the NDP government to sign a formal political accord with the BC Green Party.

The NDP made a surprise announcement on Friday, December 13th, that it has entered into the pact, which is officially called the “Cooperation and Responsible Government Accord.”

“I’m pleased to share that the government and BC Greens have reached an agreement to work together on a specific set of shared priorities,” said Premier David Eby in a statement following its unveiling on Friday.  “Strengthening health care, building affordable housing, creating livable communities and growing a strong sustainable economy.”

In return for providing a political cushion against any effort by the BC Conservatives to bring down the government in a confidence vote, or stifle the government’s legislative agenda, the NDP has agreed to a list of 18 different demands from the BC Green Caucus covering 11 different areas.

Among them, the Caucus of two — but backed in negotiations by Party Leader Sonia Fursteneau — is demanding $295 million dollars in committed spending from the NDP government in five different areas, while also making other non-dollar-specific demands of the NDP.

The dollar-specific line items include:

• $15 million to support the BC Green Party’s campaign push to create a Community Health Center model for primary care, with that money set aside for communities which request it.
• $50 million is being demanded to expand “public coverage of psychologists,” with the BC Green Caucus directly involved in shepherding that concept forward.
• $150 million in total is to be injected into BC Housing’s Shelter Aid For Elderly Renters (SAFER) initiative, as well as the wider Renters Assistance Program (RAP).  The government is to set aside an extra $75 million in 2025, as well as 2026, to top up both of them.
• $30 million is to be set aside from the money provided through BC Housing for it’s HEART and HEARTH programs — designed to deal with homeless encampments — for the BC Green Party’s “Village Model” concept of wrap around services for those on the streets.
• $100 million is to be made available, $50 million next year and $50 million in 2026, to help subsidize low and middle-income home owners who want help making the switch to an electric heat pump for their homes.

The $295 million ask of the NDP does not include the financial implications of the ‘wish-list.’

These include government reviews on a variety of different issues.

Among those reviews, one calls for a report to outline the broader status of the BC health care system.

Another calls for the Clean BC Program to go under the microscope next year, which is a year earlier than its legislative mandate requires.

The Greens are also pushing to have 7,500 units of social housing be built across BC in 2025.

It wants the numbers crunched to determine whether current social security and welfare payments need to be adjusted.

The Green Party is also demanding the creation of a Special Committee to review the provincial electoral system, with an eye toward the Party’s long-sought desire for proportional representation.

Proportional representation could give parties more voting members in the Legislature, based on their BC-wide percentage of the popular vote.

Another demand from the BC Green Caucus is a commitment for “frequent, reliable and affordable” transit services in two specific areas of the province.

One area specified is Highway 1 into Horseshoe Bay and along through the Sea to Sky corridor — an area represented by Green Party MLA Jeremy Valeriote.

The other is listed in the signed agreement as “routes on Vancouver Island, Highway 16 (sic).”

There is no Highway 16 on record for Vancouver Island.

Highway 16 is the lesser-known numerical designation of the Yellowhead Highway stretching across much of Western Canada, from Prince Rupert to Portage La Prairie in Manitoa.

However, there is a Highway 17, better known as the Pat Bay Highway, which runs north from Victoria through a good portion of the other BC Green MLA, Rob Botterell’s, constituency of Saanich North and the Islands.

Opposition critic questions rationale for accord

“This very much reads like a coalition document, not even a confidence and supply agreement,” said BC Conservative Finance Critic Peter Milobar.

The MLA for Kamloops-Centre says there are a lot of questions to be answered in the pact, including whether the NDP — which does maintain a 47 seat majority — has given up too much power for a small return.

“The government has enough members to pass a budget,” noted Milobar.  “They don’t need to be throwing the kitchen sink to a party that has two seats in the Legislature – a reduction of three [members in the previous Parliament].”

Milobar also suggests the financial implications of the accord is something he intends to dive deeper into.

“You look at the long list of things they’ve agreed to with the Green Party in advance,” lamented Milobar.  “No wonder we don’t have the Legislature sitting, because apparently – according to the Greens and the NDP – they’re just going to do whatever they want, Legislature be damned.”

The political pact does not appear to be legally binding, but does say the ‘wish list’ is something the BC Green Party will be updating on an annual basis, which is also when the accord comes up for a mandatory review.

What the agreement does provide is a humanitarian reprieve for Cabinet Minister Grace Lore.

She’s temporarily handed off her role as the Minister of Children and Families as  she focuses on a treatment and recovery plan, after being diagnosed with cancer shortly after taking her Cabinet oath of office.

However, she is staying on as the MLA for Victoria-Beacon Hill, and had promised to be present at the Legislature for critical votes.

If just one member of the NDP Caucus is not present in the Chamber, a combined effort by the BC Conservatives and the Greens could end up with a deadlocked vote.

It was Lore who defeated BC Green Party Leader Sonia Fursteneau in Victoria-Beacon Hill, leaving Fursteneau without a seat in the Legislature.

Fursteneau decided to stay on as Party Leader, and is said to have led the accord negotiations for the Greens, while Deputy Premier Niki Sharma — who is also the Attorney General — took lead for the NDP.

Milobar suggests Greens watch out for Machiavellian maneuvers 

“There is cause for pondering as to the effectiveness of this, and why it’s needed in the first place,” said Milobar when talking about the political implications of the agreement, saying he will be curious to observe how this agreement — compared with 2017 — “plays out over time.”

2017 saw the BC Liberal Party win a plurality of seats in the Legislature, but not enough to form a majority, as the Christy Clarke-led BC Liberals would take 43 seats, while the NDP came in at 41, and the BC Green Party held three.

2017 was also when then-NDP Leader John Horgan, coming off his first election as Party leader, decided to make the first in a series of calculated political moves to take over as Premier, including convincing then-BC Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver to sign a supply and confidence agreement to help maintain a minority New Democrat government.

“In 2017, the Greens thought they had this iron-clad guarantee with the NDP,” mused Milobar, who was a member of the BC Liberal Caucus, having secured his first term as an MLA in that election.

“The NDP still went ahead and did Site C.  Trans Mountain Pipeline went forward.  LNG went forward,” noted Milobar.  “Franky the NDP didn’t provide the Greens much of anything.”

Sonia Fursteneau was also elected as an MLA for the first time in 2017, securing victory in her former home riding of Cowichan Valley.

She and her two other BC Green Party Caucus members at that time would find themselves politically “sandbagged” by Premier John Horgan move to call a snap election a year early, as it not only skirted the Fixed Election Laws, but also contravened the supply and confidence agreement with the BC Green Party, which was signed specifically to support a four-year NDP minority.

“The thank you the NDP gave the Greens was to call a year-early election and blame the Greens for it,” noted Milobar, alluding to a divide between the NDP and the Greens over Liquified Natural Gas policy, and their subsequent reliability as a political partner, which Horgan would use to convince the Lieutenant-Governor to dissolve the Legislature.

Sonia Fursteneau would end up leading the BC Green Party into the 2017 election after Andrew Weaver decided not to run for office again.