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“Show us the climate plan,” Weaver said Monday as the legislature reconvened for the fall sitting. “We will have lots to say at that time.”

But some Green party members must be wondering why Weaver didn’t drive a harder bargain back when Horgan was desperate for his support. When the NDP and Greens struck their power-sharing deal last year _— bringing down Christy Clark’s Liberal government — Weaver could have demanded that Horgan cancel the Site C dam and block any LNG mega-projects as the price of his support.

Instead, now all Weaver can do is an impression of the big bad wolf with a case of bronchitis. He can huff-and-puff all he wants. But he refuses to blow the NDP’s house down.

A key reason is Weaver is desperate for the ‘Yes’ side to win this fall’s referendum on proportional representation, a voting system the Greens want badly because it would boost the number of MLAs they elect to the legislature. And that’s another way Horgan has played Weaver for a sucker at the political poker table.

Under the NDP’s referendum rules, the earliest a PR voting system could be used in an election would be 2021. If Weaver brought the government crashing down before then, the subsequent snap election would be held under the existing first-past-the-post voting system, and the Greens could very likely lose the balance of power they wield now.

If the ‘No’ side wins the referendum, and proportional representation is declared dead, then all bets will be off, and Weaver just might follow through on his threats to bring the government down.

Until then, Horgan has little to worry about from Weaver, as he prepares to take his bows for the LNG breakthrough.

msmyth@postmedia.com

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