Consider British Columbia. Since June of 2017, an NDP-led minority government has provided stability and good governance through some very challenging times. Interestingly, in June of that year, when B.C. Liberal Leader Christy Clarke asked the lieutenant-governor for a dissolution of the legislature (after a non-confidence vote), the lieutenant-governor refused.
Instead of forcing another election, the B.C. lieutenant-governor invited NDP leader John Horgan to form a minority government with the support and cooperation of the Green Party.
That minority government has recently handed down its fourth progressive and balanced budget. This is an example of how our political parties and institutions can co-operate to provide good governance for the people.
Now, consider Newfoundland and Labrador.
In April 2019 Premier Dwight Ball, in a bid to consolidate both his leadership and his party’s grip on power, sought permission from the lieutenant-governor to pre-empt the province’s fixed election dates and call a snap spring election.
The lieutenant-governor might well have refused, reinforcing the idea that the Liberals should focus more on governing and less on politicking, but this was not to be. The electoral gamble failed and the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador soon found itself leading a minority government.
No agreement following the Green-NDP model has, to date, been struck to ensure stable government. On the contrary, the Liberal-led government has carried on with characteristic arrogance and ineptitude, lurching from one scandal to another, and this has led not only to the premier’s resignation, but to the need for a Liberal coronation, and the prospect of another provincial election in the short term.
Shockingly, all this political manoeuvring is taking place as we, the people of the province, face some of the most difficult challenges in our history.
No doubt the Liberal party coffers are full. They can afford both a leadership race and a provincial election.
We all know that a total rebranding under a new leader is exactly what they need.
The problem is it’s not what the province needs. Our coffers are not full!
What we need is a government that’s working for the people, not a political party that’s rehabilitating itself and forcing us into another premature election.
In the coming weeks, expect to hear the good news of hope and optimism and witness the emergence of a new political messiah to lead us out of the quagmire. (Thanks to our last messiah, the promised land seems firmly out of reach).
The hoopla will be calculated to drown out the many, many media reports on the inaction, ineptitude, infighting, patronage and environmental irresponsibility of our two Liberal governments since 2015.
Of course, this is to be expected in politics, but as a cautionary note it’s worth pointing out that the buoyancy and good feeling already issuing from some quarters of the Liberal party bring to mind nothing so much as the sentiments and excitement that attended the political ascendancy of Danny Williams.
Meanwhile, what’s really being drowned here is the functioning of our democracy. Simply put, in times of crisis, a political party should never place its own survival before the welfare of the people.
Trust in democracy can only be restored if people — not political parties — sit at the heart of governance.
Paul Rowe,
St. John’s