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Clovechok heads to Victoria for throne speech, vote

MLA says he is prepared to work with NDP/Greens but he didn’t throw away his campaign signs
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Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok.

Columbia River Revelstoke MLA Doug Clovechok was making his way to Victoria on Tuesday, ready for what is sure to be a tumultuous couple of days in the British Columbia Legislature.

Clovechok, recently appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Premier Christy Clark, says he is honoured by the appointment and is already working on a few files, although with so much uncertainty surrounding what is ahead this week it is anyone’s guess as to how it all plays out.

On Thursday, the BC Liberal government will introduce their throne speech and from then, all indications are a non-confidence motion will be introduced by the Green/NDP coalition.

Right now, there is no speaker in place, though Clovechok says the BC Liberals will put forward a speaker, although he doesn’t know who that person is at the moment.

Once the speaker is in place, a throne speech will be tabled.

“In the event, the speech is defeated, the speaker will withdraw services,” Clovechok said, adding that it is traditional that the speaker comes from the sitting government and therefore he is somewhat dumbfounded that the NDP/Greens would expect the BC Liberal speaker to continue on to “prop up an unstable government”.

“I see John Horgan visited Cranbrook on Monday,” he said. “He wants to work with Tom Shypitka and myself. I ran on working across party lines and I hope to work with him. However, I find his visit a little disingenuous. We didn’t see him during the campaign. He had no interest in Columbia River Revelstoke and Kootenay East. Now he wants to be a friend of the Kootenays.

“He’s campaigning already. But at the end of the day, if they form government, I will work with them.”

Asked how long he thought the NDP/Green coalition would hold, Clovechok said it was hard to tell.

“Last week, Mr. Horgan promised the Greens that a BC Liberal would be speaker, and I understand Mr. Weaver is upset that it isn’t going to happen. With the coalition having to put forward a speaker, we have a 43 - 43 tie. How stable is that?

“And we need stability. You have to remember, the BC Liberals won this election, with the most popular vote and 43 seats. The people of British Columbia deserve stability, and they deserve to maintain the accomplishments of this government, like the triple A credit rating and balanced budgets.

“On a positive note, I’m excited. I’m already working on files in this riding. I’m looking forward to learning from the Premier, who is very politically astute.

“But I didn’t throw my signs away.”



Carolyn Grant

About the Author: Carolyn Grant

I have been with the Kimberley Bulletin since 2001 and have enjoyed every moment of it.
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