John Horgan and Andrew Weaver were the ones with the big smiles during the press conferences Monday and Tuesday, to first announce their arrangement and then to sign it and release it to the public.
Clark was the one with the short and somber announcement Tuesday that she'll play the tape to the end and force a vote in the Legislature to defeat her government. From both her comments, as well as what the three Prince George area Liberal MLAs were also saying, the Liberals have resigned themselves to sitting in the opposition benches.
If that's the case, Prince George should get to know their premier-in-waiting in a hurry.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley have both endorsed the expansion of Kinder Morgan's TransMountain pipeline through B.C. So had Clark. Too bad Horgan is opposed. An Alberta premier of any political stripe saying "mark my words - that pipeline will be built" and a Canadian prime minister of any political stripe saying the same is asking for a fight west of the Rockies.
Horgan (and Weaver) vow to fight TransMountain through every means at their disposal, which would include legal challenges, as well as refusing to approve permits for construction. It will be Horgan as premier, however, who will score the political points by telling Trudeau and Notley where they can stick their pipeline.
For many non-partisan B.C.voters, this isn't a party issue, it's geographical. In their minds, if B.C. residents don't want to allow a pipeline through their backyard, it's their right to say no, regardless of what the prime minister or the Constitution or the legal experts say.
Meanwhile, Pierre Trudeau is somewhere laughing at the irony of Canadian energy company barons sitting in their corporate head offices in Calgary, cheering on a prime minister named Trudeau and their NDP premier in Alberta to get a pipeline built.
New Conservative leader Andrew Scheer kicked off his first days as the new Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons by pointing out that the Trudeau government says the science and a full environmental review supports a safe expansion of TransMountain, but Trudeau gassed the Northern Gateway pipeline after the same scientific and environmental process.
Scheer may be on to something because Trudeau hasn't come to B.C. yet to promote that pipeline expansion. He's got 17 B.C. MPs and all but one of them are based out of the Lower Mainland, where opposition to TransMountain is the loudest and strongest.
Let's see Trudeau defend it in Vancouver and Burnaby (followed by a jog along the Sea Wall and some photobombing).
Meanwhile, in the Central and Northern Interior of B.C., there is much political angst. Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George and the Peace have all enjoyed having a seat at the government table for many years. Now those days, at least for now, appear over.
That doesn't mean Prince George will be ignored by a Horgan government.
Behind the scenes, NDP strategists are analyzing electoral results and maps, looking where the Orange Wave could pick up at least four or five seats to deliver that majority for Horgan in the next election.
Both Kamloops and Prince George have a much better history than Kelowna and the northeast of turning to the NDP. That's four seats right there.
In Prince George, most local doctors have been publicly backing the Liberals for years.
Premier Horgan could change their tune in a hurry by offering to fast-track their efforts to build a new surgical tower at the University Hospital of Northern B.C. He could then head up to UNBC and announce a physiotherapist training program through the Northern Medical Program.
Those kind of Prince George perks would easily override any criticism should Horgan order the construction of Site C be suspended. And if the utilities commission endorses the project, NDP support for Site C would anger the Greens but it'd be just another benefit here.
Lastly, Shirley Bond's fifth consecutive term as an MLA is likely her last while Mike Morris already has a nice RCMP pension from his days in uniform and doesn't really need the hassle of political life. Both ridings could have new Liberal faces running for office, creating even greater local opportunity for the NDP.
That's wishful thinking perhaps but for the premier of a minority government looking to the next election and the opportunity to pass legislation without getting Weaver's permission first, Prince George would be a good place to start working on that majority.
Doesn't mean he'll get it but we'd be silly to not at least let him try.
-- Managing editor Neil Godbout
