Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons says he and his fellow NDP MLAs are adjusting to the fact they’ll soon be moving to the government benches in the legislature.
The NDP and Green parties combined to defeat the Liberal government on a confidence motion June 29, and later that evening Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon invited NDP leader John Horgan to form government.
“We were all wondering how everything would play out,” Simons said. “We had four votes last week, and on four votes defeated the [Liberal] government. I’d been waiting 12 years to win a vote [in the legislature]… I’m glad to be on the side where I’ll be closer to the levers of decision-making, but there’s a lot of work to be done during this transition period. It’s sinking in that it’s a daunting task.”
On Tuesday, Horgan announced appointments to the staff that will manage the transition and work with him after he’s sworn in as premier.
Three-term Vancouver city councillor Geoff Meggs will be Horgan’s chief of staff, after resigning from council.
Former BCIT president and Central 1 Credit Union CEO Don Wright will serve as the deputy minister to the executive council, cabinet secretary and head of the public service.
Horgan’s current chief of staff and BC NDP campaign director Bob Dewar will stay on as a special advisor to the premier.
Simons wouldn’t speculate on how the NDP and Green caucuses will handle electing a speaker after the resignation of Liberal MLA Steve Thomson, who held the job just long enough to see the throne speech introduced and the government defeated.
“There will be a speaker, obviously. There has to be a speaker,” said Simons, who added he expects that issue to be dealt with after the NDP leader announces his cabinet picks later this month and closer to the anticipated return to the legislature in September.
“Meanwhile, the issues of the constituency continue to be dealt with and advocating for people continues,” he said.
On a couple of specific issues where people in the riding have been pressing for quick action, Simons was cautious about making any promises.
In a letter to Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) this week, the group Protect Public Health Care Sunshine Coast called on the health authority to cancel its contract with Trellis Seniors Services to build and operate a new long-term care facility in Sechelt. Before and during the campaign, Simons said the NDP also opposes the deal and he told Coast Reporter in April, “We must make every effort to work with VCH to help them revisit and renegotiate the contract.”
This week he said, “People know clearly where we stand on the issue. Whether we can retroactively do certain things will be an important question.”
Both the NDP and Greens promised changes to BC Ferries, and Simons said that could be an easier policy to implement.
“Ferries is a little bit different because we do have authority to amend the Coastal Ferries Act. We have better ability to influence the decisions in terms of how BC Ferries is structured for the future and how the governance is set out,” he said.
“The other issue is fare reductions and restoration of service. Fare reductions were part of our platform, and restoration of reduced services is up there with fare reductions as a key issue.”
Simons said British Columbians should expect the early priorities of the NDP minority government to focus on the policy points outlined in the confidence and supply agreement that guaranteed Green support.
“Getting big money out of politics, electoral reform, those are the things that people expect of us that were part and parcel of the agreement,” Simons said. “We need to pursue the goals that we share in common. Those will be the ones that will have the least resistance and most likelihood of cooperation.”
The agreement also calls for implementing an increase in the carbon tax by $5 per tonne per year starting in 2018, referring the Site C hydro project to a BC Utilities Commission review, setting up a Fair Wages Commission to draft a plan for increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and creating a province-wide poverty reduction strategy.
“With Liberals now agreeing with our child care plan, and with our ministry of mental health and addictions and a vast number of our good platform promises during the election … we’ll have the support, obviously, of most of the Liberal members because there’s a lot where we overlap now,” added Simons, taking a little jab at the Liberal throne speech that incorporated several NDP policy planks.
