B.C. Green leader's advice for New Brunswick Greens: make a deal with PCs
B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver has advice for his New Brunswick counterparts as the province deals with its election stalemate: form an alliance with the province's Progressive Conservatives.
"The obvious way forward would be for the Conservatives to actually partner with the Greens, and that would give them the 25 seats required to maintain a majority government," Weaver said in an interview on CBC Radio's The House.
It's a surprising strategy idea, given that the two parties have very little in common on policy.
While the Greens oppose pipeline construction and are pushing for a carbon tax, the province's PC party promised during the campaign to fight the carbon tax by joining Saskatchewan, Ontario and Manitoba in a legal battle against the federal government.
The PCs also campaigned on fighting for the Energy East pipeline project, vowing to "get it to market at a competitive price," according to the party's platform.
Weaver acknowledged there are some major differences in philosophy between the two parties, but argued compromises could be found.
"That's where you'd have to get the negotiations," he said. "It is good fiscal policy to actually put prices on emissions. Progressive Conservative values would encourage emissions pricing. So I would suspect that this is something that is negotiable."
'Stay separate, preserve your identity'
If anyone knows about compromise in politics, it's Weaver. The B.C. politician struck a deal with the province's NDP to pave the way for a minority government after the May 2017 election didn't produce a clear winner. With three new elected MLAs, the Greens held the balance of power between the NDP and the Liberals.
Now, New Brunswick's Greens — headed by David Coon — find themselves in a strikingly similar position, even down to the number of MLAs in the legislature.
"My advice is not to come into a coalition," Weaver said. "My advice would be to do what we did — stay separate, preserve your identity and come up with a confidence and supply agreement that ensures you provide support and stability for a government in confidence votes, but still retain your independence to vote on case-by-case issues."
As for the Progressive Conservatives, Weaver said he thinks partnering with the Greens would make better sense for them than striking a deal with the People's Alliance, which also won three seats in the election.
"The People's Alliance has got some views that would probably be viewed as somewhat extreme with respect to bilingualism that would actually hurt the PC brand in New Brunswick," said Weaver.
"A party that's campaigned on anti-bilingualism is quite divisive. The whole Green values are inclusive, so I would suggest that the Greens would be the natural ally."
The Alliance's stance on bilingualism has upset the province's francophone community and the Tories' lone francophone MLA-elect, Robert Gauvin, said earlier this week he'd find it difficult to accept any co-operation between his party and the Alliance.
New Brunswick's Liberal Leader Brian Gallant said Friday his party will begin talks with the Greens on Tuesday, while the Progressive Conservatives' Blaine Higgs said his party will meet with the Greens on Monday.
For his part, Coon has said he will not make a decision until October, after the final election results are confirmed.
