He doesn't get a lot of face time in the legislature, but Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver is becoming one of the more intriguing provincial politicians in B.C. and the legislature session that is just under way should given him a small platform to demonstrate just that.
The government and the Official Opposition naturally dominate most of the proceedings. They have the most members, and have a much larger platform to air their views.
But in many respects, the actions and words coming from both the government and the Official Opposition are rather predictable. The government oversells its message, and reject pretty well everything the opposition members have to say (which is frequently over-the-top rhetoric).
Weaver, given his unique status, has an opportunity to be heard above the clichéridden yelling match that often passes for debate in the legislature chamber.
You can be sure that the B.C. Liberals, still flush with confidence after that unexpected election win, will continue to talk about the potential of an LNG industry and the need for
economic growth. The NDP, still bruised from its election loss and unable to create an inspiring leadership race, will paint all B.C. Liberal policies with the same brush: they are bad, mean and hypocritical.
Weaver created a bit of a stir in the summer when he actually voted in favor of the B.C. Liberal budget, because it was balanced (on paper at least). A number of NDP MLAs denounced him for doing so, but his reasoning was a balanced budget is what British Columbians had endorsed in the election campaign and who was he to say no to that? Besides, Weaver argued, what's wrong with a balanced budget anyway? He seemed genuinely puzzled why the New Democrats would have such a different view of things.
And herein lies the difference between Weaver and the NDP: he doesn't take positions based almost entirely on whether the governing party likes them or not. This independent streak that "tilts" green can set him apart.
The most recent example of this was Weaver's public backing of building a refinery to refine bitumen from the Alberta oil sands. In his view, this was a compromise position that addressed environmental concerns about oil flowing from the oil sands and still allowed Canadian energy companies access to new markets.
In taking this position, Weaver has separated himself from those who want to simply shut down the oil sands industry, period. He favors "slowing down" production with new regulations, not stopping it entirely.
"I like to think the Green Party as a science-based, evidence-based common sense party," Weaver recently told the Prince George Citizen newspaper. "It's a party that realizes that we need gasoline in our cars but we also need to have a strategy to wean ourselves off that."
Predictably, Weaver has enraged some New Democrats. One NDP MLA, Doug Routley, attacked Weaver on social media, calling him a "hypocrite" for his views (and also falsely saying Weaver supports the Site C dam proposal, which he does not).
But Weaver is charting a careful path through some very sensitive territory and he seems to be having a far easier, and effective, time of it than the NDP and that may explain why he has developed a knack for getting under the skin of New Democrats.
For example, Weaver has spoken in favor of independent power projects, noting their clean energy production and dismissing criticism of them as coming largely from public sector unions (which support, of course, the NDP).
As Weaver continues this approach of pragmatic compromise, look for the NDP to become increasingly uncomfortable with the upstart MLA from Oak Bay.
Of course, Weaver does run the risk of alienating hard-core "green" voters. One of his constituents stopped me on the street the other day to express his anger with Weaver's support for an oil refinery and his refusal to outright condemn the tar sands, but that's not the kind of person that got Weaver elected in May.
Weaver received more than 10,700 votes in the last election, an increase of more than 8,000 over the Green vote in 2009. Those are folks who likely voted for the B.C. Liberals or the NDP in the past, and I wouldn't characterize them as environmental protesters.
And Weaver seems to know his reelection depends on retaining the support of those disaffected New Democrats and B.C. Liberal voters, and not on appealing to the smaller ranks of the environmental protest movement.
Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC. Keith. [email protected]
