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For fans of electoral reform, British Columbia’s provincial election was like a tasty appetizer before the promise of the main course. The only problem is that while the appetizer sits invitingly on the table, the main course is still tantalizingly locked away in the kitchen.

What could be better than the uncertainty brought on by the razor-thin results in B.C.? Premier Christy Clark’s Liberals won 43 seats. The opposition New Democrats won 41. Thus the balance of power lies with the Green party, which won three seats and 17 per cent of the vote. On Monday, Green leader Andrew Weaver — the most powerful man in the province on the strength of 332,000 votes out of almost two million — announced he’d made a deal with the NDP, allowing them to oust Clark. Under the pact, Weaver’s Greens will agree to support an NDP government for four years on major matters such as throne speeches and budgets.

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Isn’t that great? For advocates of proportional representation, the situation in B.C. is exactly what the world could look like if only Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had followed through on his pledge to junk the first-past-the-post system. Post-election deals could be done between party leaders willing to trade favours, cabinet posts, bits of power and maybe a limo or two in return for cobbled-together alliances in which the smallest party dictates the terms.