The Neverending Saga of Canadian Politics: BC Edition

Twenty days after the province went to the polling stations, we have a government.

Sort of.

After all the ballots were counted, including a few recounts, the final standing was:

• Liberals: 43
• NDP: 41
• Green Party: 3

Majority in BC is 44 seats. Today, the NDP and Greens announced a power-sharing arrangement for the next four years. That gives them the required 44 seats needed for a majority.

But...

You knew there had to be a 'but', right?

But Christy Clark is still Premier.

No party formed a majority on their own, so she remained Premier after the election. Now, she will remain Premier until she either steps aside or loses a confidence vote.

(For those who don't live in a political system with confidence votes, the Wikipedia page. tl;dr: a member of parliament can call a motion of no confidence - certain bills, such as the budget, are automatically confidence votes - and the members of the house vote. A non-confidence means the Prime Minister or Premier loses their position. I'm looking at you, Joe Clark.)

With today's announcement, Christy's days are numbered. First day of parliament, a motion of non confidence will be called and she won't have the votes to stay in office.

And that's how John Horgan became Premier of BC... eventually.

Who knew BC politics would be so entertaining?