Article content

On Thursday, the B.C. Legislature will reconvene for its 41st Parliament. Following the election of a Speaker, the Lieutenant-Governor will deliver the Speech from the Throne. The Speech is written by the government of the day, and there have been hints that the June 22 Speech will contain many of the elements that were part of the B.C. Green party’s 2017 election platform (and, indeed, the NDP’s).

So, why would the Greens not support the B.C. Liberal government, if the Speech from the Throne comes laden with commitments and initiatives directly borrowed from the Green party platform?

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Opinion: The B.C. Green caucus will vote for change Back to video

Clearly, the Liberals want to stay in power. It is their calculation that by promising to adopt initiatives that we put forward, the Green MLAs must vote for them, or be seen as hypocritical for not supporting initiatives that they promoted during the campaign.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason that the Green caucus will not support the current Liberal government is founded in the values and principles of our party. We believe that the number-one obligation of government is to promote the health and well-being of British Columbians. We put people, not special interests and big-money donors, first. We believe in intergenerational equity — it is the future of our children and grandchildren that is at stake in the decisions we make today.