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But the more the NDP and the Greens protest that these were lifted more or less directly from their respective platforms, the more that voters may be inclined to ask: then why are you planning to vote against them?

It won’t save her government; the opposition parties are committed to bringing it down at the first opportunity. But the premier is looking past the immediate controversy to the next election — the one she professes not to want; the one that is almost certain to follow before long.

She will go, but on her own terms: not meekly resigning, as the opposition had demanded, but insisting they defeat her in the broad light of day. The Throne Speech is designed to make it as uncomfortable for them as possible.

Is it all for show? A bit of theatre over matters that have already been decided? Yes, of course. All of politics is a show. Most of what goes on in the legislature has “already been decided.” But the theatre of it matters, and the spectators will judge the players on their performances, as they usually do. The players, for their part, are entitled to jostle for power as best they can. It is an adversarial system, and it is silly to expect them to do otherwise.

So, for example, the opposition parties had every right to pretend, via last month’s “confidence and supply” agreement, they could govern the province together, without having worked out such basic elements as where they would find a Speaker, or how they would still command a majority if they did, with a margin of but one seat over the Liberals. While the Speaker votes to break ties, he or she is bound by convention to vote in certain ways: to continue debate, or to preserve the status quo. If a bill is to pass, convention holds it must have the votes to do so without the Speaker.