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It was comedy gold in the foyer of the House of Commons Tuesday when new B.C. premier John Horgan came to town.

At a press conference with Justin Trudeau, he inadvertently knocked a glass of water off his podium. Quicker than you could say “unstable minority government,” Horgan deadpanned: “Spills can happen anywhere.”

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Trudeau chimed in: “We’ll clear it up,” to which the NDP premier quipped, “It’s a federal responsibility.”

It was the only time either voluntarily raised the issue that divides them. It was as if they’d agreed: “Don’t mention the pipeline.”

Trudeau mentioned it once but got away with it because it was so oblique. “We stand by the decision we took, in a respectful way,” he said.

Horgan preferred to focus on the federal government’s role as a “great ally” in fighting wildfires, the opioid epidemic and the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. “We often feel isolated on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, but we have an ally in the Prime Minister,” he said.