The BC Liberal government has been defeated in a non-confidence vote, and NDP Leader John Horgan has been given the assent from the lieutenant governor to form a government.
As expected, the throne speech presented last week was voted down Thursday, June 29, in a non-confidence vote.
The non-confidence motion passed 44 to 42.
Following the vote, Premier Christy Clark met with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon. After spending an hour with Clark, Guichon then summoned Horgan.
“She has asked me if I have the confidence of the legislature to form government, and I told her that I do,” Horgan told the press, after emerging from his meeting with Guichon.
"It is truly an honour to stand before you today and say that tomorrow I will begin putting together a government that will make British Columbia better."
He gave assurances that the NDP's agreement with the Green Party is strong and believes there will be good co-operation between the two parties.
He also laid out some of the priorities once his government is formally installed.
"I want to focus as quickly as possible on putting in place a cabinet and government structure so that we can get moving on issues that matter to people," he said. "The fentanyl crisis needs immediate attention, the softwood lumber agreement needs immediate attention, as does our public education system."
The May 9 election left B.C. with a hung parliament. Although the Liberals won two more seats than the NDP did, Horgan struck a deal with Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver to develop a four-year supply-and-confidence agreement that would see the Greens voting with the NDP on confidence measures such as budgets and throne speeches.
The first order of business for Horgan's new government will be electing a Speaker. If he or she comes from NDP or Green Party ranks, it leaves the NDP and Greens tied with the Liberals at 43 votes each. The Speaker will be required to cast deciding votes, which is a breach of parliamentary convention.
