When our premier-designate, John Horgan, is sworn in on July 18, it looks as if he will be taking two oaths. One is the oath of office, administered by Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon.
However, the NDP leader also appears intent on abiding by a second oath 鈥� the Hippocratic oath 鈥� which demands that physicians 鈥渇irst, do no harm.鈥�
Horgan鈥檚 immediate priorities, he says, are the fentanyl crisis, the softwood-lumber dispute with the U.S. and public education. The Green Party leader, Andrew Weaver, backs that approach.
This could be considered a 鈥渇irst, do no harm鈥� list, because it entails little or no risk to the new government. There is indeed an epidemic of overdose deaths, but the blame cannot, in the main, be laid at the provincial government鈥檚 door.
The primary cause is the lethal nature of fentanyl. The drug is between 50 and 100 times more powerful than morphine, and a new generation 鈥� carfentanil 鈥� is 10,000 times stronger than morphine. When these drugs are mixed by dealers into various cocktails, there is almost no way to use them safely.
So, yes, Horgan is right to call for more preventive measures, but no one will blame him if the epidemic continues. When has a 鈥渨ar on drugs鈥� ever been won?
On the softwood-lumber issue, the province has little to contribute beyond a lobbying effort. This is a matter for the federal government to resolve. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears sympathetic, a solution 鈥� if there is one 鈥� can be hammered out only between Ottawa and Washington, D.C.
As for public education, all of the parties agree on the need to reinvest in the K-12 sector. Here, too, Horgan is playing to an acquiescent audience. Who doesn鈥檛 support additional money for education?
But what of the more contentious matters? Rather than immediately cancelling sa国际传媒 Hydro鈥檚 Site C dam, the NDP and Greens will ask the sa国际传媒 Utilities Commission to examine the project鈥檚 business case.
That kicks the can down the road for a while, but not for the duration of a four-year term of office. Eventually, this nettle will have to be grasped.
So, also, the expansion of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Both the prime minister, and more awkwardly, Alberta鈥檚 NDP Premier Rachel Notley, support the project.
Indeed, some believe Notley鈥檚 re-election depends on getting the pipeline built, and there has been speculation about reprisals by Alberta if sa国际传媒 tries to kill it.
Yet both Horgan and Weaver oppose going ahead. A fight between neighbouring NDP governments looms, and a decision cannot be deferred indefinitely.
On the matter of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, delaying tactics are also being used. Both Horgan and Weaver support the wage hike, but the proposal is controversial because of the potential for job loss, particularly in the small-business sector. Their solution is to refer the matter to a fair-wages commission for further study.
Horgan鈥檚 short-term strategy, then, is this: Show that a minority government can work by moving ahead on only those issues where there is broad public consensus, and leave the more combustible issues till later.
Ironically, however, whether the new premier can keep his ship afloat might depend on Weaver.
The Green leader has already shown a prickly temperament. He recently scuttled a scheme by the NDP to end secret ballots in union-certification votes.
But his challenge extends beyond preserving a calm demeanour. It is essential, if his party is to remain relevant, that he demonstrate a significant degree of independence.
Can he do this, while propping up his end of an awkward political marriage? He has a few months to show us.
