BC NDP, Greens reach 4-year agreement to work together

It looks like negotiations between the BC NDP and the Greens have come to a resolution.

In a statement Friday, Premier David Eby explains that the government and the Green Party have “reached an agreement to work together on a specific set of shared priorities.”

“British Columbians expect us to work collaboratively to deliver on the most important issues people are facing,” Eby shared.

According to Eby, the four-year agreement’s priorities include: health care, affordable housing, creating livable communities, and the economy.

“We are two distinct parties with two distinct identities, and we won’t always agree. We also have many shared values. The agreement lays out specific areas of action we will work together to achieve,” Eby said.

“This agreement will strengthen the stability of the government and help deliver on the priorities of British Columbians. We will continue to work with all MLAs who want to make the legislature work for people.”

The agreement is likely a bit of a relief for the NDP as it strengthens their thin majority of just one seat over the BC Conservatives. The Greens, meanwhile, have two seats in the legislature.

UBC political science lecturer Stewart Prest says this development was not a surprise.

“This is something we’ve been anticipating for some time, given that the premier had been signaling strongly that he was looking for ways to work with the Greens to provide a little more stability in the legislature, given the razor-thin majority that the NDP managed to eke out in the election,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.

What’s interesting, Prest says, is just how detailed the agreement is.

“I think the specificity of the arrangements around the operation of the legislature stands out as an area where they’re clearly trying to reduce gray areas and increase the predictability for this agreement,” he said.

“You do have a sense that in negotiating this, the Greens are taking something of a ‘fool me once’ approach in light of the way in which the last agreement ended.”

Prest is referring to a similar agreement between the two parties in 2017 that “worked quite well until it didn’t.”

“The way in which it ended, with then-premier John Horgan deciding to call a snap election in 2020 and effectively tear up that agreement when there wasn’t any legislative need to do so, I think that really rubbed many Greens the wrong way and led to some skepticism whether it would even be a good idea to try to work together as two parties in the legislature again,” he said.

Prest says it doesn’t appear that the arrangement gives either party the upper hand.

“I don’t see very much in the agreement that is not broadly in keeping with the goals of the NDP or the Green Party, for that matter,” he said.

“The most controversial or divisive issues, such as policy around LNG, are nowhere to be seen in this agreement. And so I think some of the silences are notable as well.”

Speaking at a media availability Friday morning, Deputy Premier Niki Sharma said she believes it’s an agreement that finds shared values between the parties.

“I know that we’re both distinct parties with distinct values, but in a time that we’re in today, it’s great to find and display a space where we can speak across differences and layout initiatives that we know will make British Columbians lives better, and it’s important that we do that work to build bridges,” Sharma said.

Despite the deal, Sharma said the agreement “clearly states” that the parties maintain their differences.

“I know this was very important to [the Green Party], to be able to disagree or differ from government positions when that happens, but British Columbians expect us to work together,” she explained.

“I know that we’ll have differences of opinions moving forward, but the fact that we can show a pathway where two political parties in a time of great polarization can come together for British Columbians, I think, is a profound thing,” she added.

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