1 of 3 2 of 3

After three weeks off, B.C. MLAs will return to the legislature this week with clearer lines drawn between the parties.

The B.C. NDP under John Horgan is a purer labour party than it's ever been since Glen Clark resigned as premier in August 1999.

That's apparent in its willingness to offer billions in subsidies to the liquefied natural gas industry, as well as in its decision to complete the $10.7-billion Site C dam.

Ironically, the emergence of a governing labour party comes when the union movement has some deep divisions. Unifor has split from the Canadian Labour Congress, which has accused it of raiding another union, Unite Here.

The B.C. Nurses Union is also on the outs with many labour leaders after its successful raid on Hospital Employees' Union nurses. The BCGEU also ruffled some feathers under previous president Darryl Walker when it would issue the occasional praise for former premier Christy Clark's liquor reforms.

The NDP government will sometimes offer a nod to the environment, such as in the rejection of the proposed Ajax copper-gold mine near Kamloops. Another nod came in the provincewide ban on grizzly bear hunting.

But when it comes to the biggest issue facing the planet—carbon dioxide emissions—the NDP just isn't in the game in a serious way.

That should have been apparent on the first day of the 2017 election campaign when Horgan announced the cancellation of bridge tolls in Metro Vancouver. But some of us were still fooled.

While NDP government staff can point to the decision to hire Thomas Berger to offer legal advice around the Kinder Morgan pipeline, this issue will ultimately be resolved by the courts or international energy markets. It's not going to be settled by the B.C., Alberta, or federal governments.

Ongoing protests are delaying the project. Perhaps they'll reach the point where the company's board of directors will throw in the towel because there won't be any money to be made.

In the meantime, give the NDP government credit for working with local mayors to improve transit, which is a positive move for the planet. But far greater emphasis on providing bus service over a light-rail line to Langley is also a reflection of the premier's desire to please Unifor Local 111, which represents transit operators.

B.C. LIberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson has come to the defence of house-rich and cash-poor seniors who are facing heavy taxation for living in homes valued at more than $3 million.

Wilkinson finds his issue

The B.C. Liberals are positioning themselves as the homeowners' party in the B.C. legislature.

Go to the caucus website and the first thing you'll see is an open letter from leader Andrew Wilkinson about NDP housing policies.

Traditionally in B.C., renters have overwhelmingly voted for the NDP and homeowners have been more likely to vote B.C. Liberal.

Wilkinson is firming up this support by zeroing in on NDP housing taxes. He's betting that this new focus on homeowners will encourage more of them to vote in the next provincial election.

If he plants the seed in voters' minds that the NDP wants to drive down housing prices, Wilkinson might secure the support of more older British Columbians who live in their own dwelling.

So where does this leave the B.C. Greens?

Leader Andrew Weaver often presents himself as the only honest broker among party leaders and the only one who can deliver results in a minority government.

He criticized the initial housing taxes and then praised Finance Minister Carole James for making some of the changes he was seeking.

But Weaver still wants a speculation tax that targets people who flip homes, which is something the NDP has refused to support.

Weaver has also pointed to the financial follies of the Site C decision and the environmental follies of Horgan's support for LNG.

Once a climate scientist, always a climate scientist: Andrew Weaver continues blowing the whistle on the danger of rising greenhouse gas emissions.

In a tweet this weekend, Weaver pointed out that the "cognitive dissonance" among B.C. politicians is rampant when it comes to rising greehouse gas emissions.

"We cannot afford climate solutions becoming political punching bags, compromised by unrelated election issues," Weaver declared in another tweet.

If the NDP is truly a labour party, it's hard to imagine that it will go into overdrive to support proportional representation.

That's because PR would dilute the power of organized labour in achieving its legislative objectives.

If things start to go badly for the yes side in the PR referendum, I expect Weaver will cast blame on the NDP for not putting its heart into the fight.

It will be another way of showing that he's more honest than the leaders of the two largest parties in the legislature.

Given the high degree of mistrust for politicians in the western industrialized world, this could ultimately prove to be a winning strategy.