Eby NDP “checkmated” BC Greens with unnecessary agreement: ex-Green leader Weaver

The former leader of the BC Greens said the Dec. 13-announced agreement between the party’s two-member caucus and the governing NDP is an embarrassment for the BC Legislature’s third party and leader Sonia Furstenau should immediately resign.

“I am no longer convinced they have a role to play in B.C. politics,” said Andrew Weaver in a 685-word, Dec. 14 commentary on X, formerly Twitter.

Bob Mackin 

Weaver wrote that the Greens negotiated away their relevance in the Legislative session that opens Feb. 18 and Furstenau “hamstrung two naive rookie MLAs with no legislative experience when they had no need to do so.”

Horgan and Weaver agreed to defeat Clark in 2017.  (Twitter)

The agreement contains no substance on climate change issues, and is silent on LNG and the oil and gas sector and greenhouse gas targets.

“There is nothing about innovation; there is no economic plan; there is nothing of substance on resource development,” Weaver wrote.

Furstenau was the Cowichan Valley incumbent who sought the James Bay seat, but lost to incumbent NDP cabinet minister Grace Lore in the Oct. 19 election. Premier David Eby’s party remains in power with a reduced majority of 47 seats after winning a judicial recount in Surrey-Guildford by a mere 22 votes.

Weaver pointed out that Eby had already gained the consent of Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin to continue governing. It was different in 2017, when the support of the three-member Green caucus helped John Horgan’s 41-member NDP caucus defeat the 42-seat BC Liberal minority in a post-election confidence vote.

Weaver said he reached consensus on the 2017 confidence and supply agreement (CASA) with the late Horgan and Carole James, and “achieved almost all of our objectives,” despite Furstenau undermining negotiations.

Weaver resigned as leader in October 2019, but continued to sit in the Legislature. Furstenau won the party leadership the week before Horgan called a snap election in September 2020.

Weaver said Furstenau and Adam Olsen, the other member of the Green caucus, triggered the snap election because they blocked certain bills and violated the good faith and no surprises clause in CASA.

“The NDP had no choice but to seek a new mandate to govern through the COVID crisis,” Weaver said.

Weaver also said it was very telling that the NDP put the Deputy Premier, Niki Sharma, not Eby, in front of reporters to announce the agreement.

“The NDP just checkmated the BC Greens and ensured they will have no voice,” Weaver wrote.

Weaver was not alone in his criticism. Norman Spector, who was deputy minister in Premier Bill Bennett’s office in the 1980s, advised Weaver in the 2017 CASA negotiations. Spector suggested the new deal is an opportunity for the opposition Conservatives.

“I’m guessing that, in the next election, John Rustad will campaign against it: ‘if they did it to you once without telling you they would, they’ll do it to you again!’” Spector posted on X.

NEW: Subscribe to theBreaker.news on Substack. Find out how: Click here.

The former leader of the BC Greens