It’s perhaps not what they signed up for and it’s certainly not what they’d envisaged.
But for at least two of Richmond’s four B.C. Liberal MLAs, they’re learning that life in Opposition is going to be markedly different from the one they’d known and expected.
Former journalist and LNG lobbyist Jas Johal, who scraped into the new Richmond-Queensborough seat by just 124 votes, said he’s excited about being part of the “strongest opposition in the history of B.C. politics up, against the weakest government in the history of B.C. politics.”
While Richmond-Steveston veteran John Yap is still wrapping his head around the fact he’s going to be sitting on the opposite side of the legislature for the first time in his 12-year career as an MLA.
Both, however, are adamant that the new, governing NDP and Green provincial alliance is going to have its work cut out.
And they are both acutely aware of the tightrope the new alliance will be walking every day the legislature sits, with a 43-43 MLA split in the legislature meaning the NDP-appointed Speaker of the House possibly being called on to break a tie – a rare occasion in B.C. politics.
“I signed up for public service; of course, you would rather be in government and making decisions,” Johal told the Richmond News.
“(The NDP) are going to have to bend the rules, in terms of the Speaker of the House, to get things done.
“With the accord they have signed, it means they are going to have to politicize the Speaker. We are going to be a very strong opposition.”
Yap, while acknowledging his “first-time experience” in Opposition, said it “will be a change, for sure; but life is full of changes and new opportunities.
“I will still be fighting for Richmond and Steveston; of course, going from a government caucus to an opposition caucus is going to be a transition.
“It all comes down to who shows up for the vote. People have lives, people miss flights, people are sometimes not able to make it to Victoria. A lot of my constituents have been telling me that they don’t think (an NDP government) will last.
“All (Liberal MLAs) will be trying our very best to be there.”
Premier Christy Clark, in her throne speech prior to the vote of no-confidence and subsequent NDP/Green takeover, incorporated many items from the NDP’s and Green’s election platforms.
Johal and Yap were asked how a BC Liberal Party can then provide a credible Opposition when the aforementioned alliance attempts to turn its platforms into policy.
“There’s going to have to, at some point, be a tax hike along the line,” said Johal.
“They can’t do all these things they promised without getting the money from somewhere. And I hope they don’t fritter away the surplus.
“Our platform was costed. Theirs was not. On daycare, we are coming at it from a different place, and it’s likely the way their program is delivered will be very different.”
Yap said the “devil will be in the details” and “let’s see what the government introduces.”
“What we wanted to introduce were broad-brush proposals, but it’s how you implement that…that’s what we will be looking at.
“Just as when we were in government, the NDP found ways to critique us, we will be looking closely at them.”
As for how long the knife-edge NDP/Green government might last, Johal said he learned, in his 23 years as a journalist, not to make predictions.
