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If that holds, business grinds to a halt at the legislature. Provincial law and house procedures are clear: the first order of business after an election is to elect a Speaker. No speeches, bills, motions or budgets are allowed until then. The NDP and Greens can’t even unite to outvote Clark until a Speaker is in place.

To figure out what might happen, you have to look back to 1908 in Newfoundland, where two parties ended the election tied at 18 seats each and refused to appoint a Speaker. Eventually, the lieutenant-governor called another election.

That’s unlikely to happen right away, if at all, in B.C., said Phillipe Lagassé, an associate professor at Carleton University and a specialist on issues involving the Crown.

“The point that needs to be made here is it’s not so much everybody puts up their hand who isn’t willing to do it and we go to an election,” said Lagassé. “The lieutenant-governor in this case will try and convince all of the parties in particular to really seriously think about this and try and find a solution. It’s not in anybody’s interest to have one effort, one go at it, and then trigger an election.”

If she feels the Liberals are being obstructionist, Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon could use the opportunity to ask Horgan to govern. But that would be an extremely rare move as well, he said.

The NDP and Greens could try to lure a weak Liberal to take the job, as it comes with a $52,941 pay raise on top of the base MLA salary of $105,881. But within the Liberal ranks that would be considered a betrayal akin to crossing the floor to join the other party.