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Author: Michelle Stack, Associate Professor, University of British Columbia

For the first time since the 1950s, British Columbia has a minority government.

Over the course of Canadian history, minority governments have resulted in universal health care legislation and the Canadian Pension Plan. Other minority governments, however, have led to another election within six months. As an academic and public education advocate, I hope this partnership survives the full term, which would give the B.C. government until 2021 to implement an ambitious plan.

The NDP-Green Agreement is indeed ambitious. It has four pillars, including “making democracy work for people” and “fixing the services that people count on.” Policy is about reallocation of limited resources, and within the 23-member B.C. cabinet, there will be tension around how much money should go to which priority, and how to distribute it.