Maple Ridge and Mission will see changes if the NDP is able to form government with the support of the Green Party, say local MLAs.
Bob D’Eith, who won the Maple Ridge-Mission riding, and Lisa Beare of Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows spent Tuesday with the NDP caucus, learning about the new accord between the two parties.
“It gives us a path to potentially form government, which we’re very excited about,” D’Eith said of the agreement.
“My first appearance in the legislature was signing an historic accord.”
Beare had a seat right beside party leader John Horgan as he made a live televised address about the deal on Tuesday. But that wasn’t an indication that the MLA-elect will have a key role in a new government.
“All the other seats in the room were taken,” she said with a laugh, adding she was happy to sit beside Horgan, who brought “such good energy.”
The NDP, with the agreement, will be able to fulfill its election promises, including the elimination of tolls on the Port Mann and Golden Ears bridges.
D’Eith dislikes the toll system.
“It’s always been a tax on working people. They can pay thousands of dollars per year to get to work,” he said. “This is about fairness. We recognize we have to pay for those bridges, but it’s about fairness.”
He said the NDP will meet with mayors and come up with a strategy to pay the debt on the bridge construction.
The NDP will create a new Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions to address the problem of homelessness and the opioid crisis, which claimed more than 900 lives from overdoses last year.
“That will impact on Maple Ridge and Mission to a huge extent,” D’Eith said.
There are too many ministries involved in the these issues, he added, and there needs to be one government agency that is made responsible.
“The investment in Riverview can also make a big difference,” and re-opening the Coquitlam mental health institution has been part of the NDP answer to homelessness.
The cooperation of the two parties could also lead to a new electoral system.
“This gives an opportunity to see how different parties can work together in a minority government situation,” said D’Eith.
That will be important to a province-wide plebiscite on a proportional representation electoral system, which the parties included in the accord, to be included on the ballots in the 2018 municipal elections.
Premier Christy Clark and the Liberal party still have the most seats it the legislature with 43, compared to 41 for the NDP and three for the Greens. However, with Andrew Weaver’s Green Party agreeing to support Horgan’s NDP, they have the numbers to bring Clark down after 16 years of Liberal rule.
Clark said she will convene the legislature in June. D’Eith says once she gives a throne speech, it will be voted on as a confidence matter.
If defeated, the government will fall.
The Greens have agreed to side with the NDP on any confidence vote.
At that point, the matter is in the hands of Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon, who is expected to ask Horgan to attempt to form government.
“The voters voted for change, and the majority of MLAs have now voted for change, we trust the Lieutenant Governor will honour their wishes,” said Beare.
“We’re moving forward. We’ve got an accord and a plan to form government.”
While the NDP and Green Party have an agreement, Horgan is not in power yet.
“This [accord] is a pathway to government. A lot can happen between now and then,” said D’Eith.
The MLAs expect to be sworn in during the coming weeks.