Our newly minted Green Party MLA, Jeremy Valeriote, deserves praise for doing what many thought he couldn’t—not only winning his West-Vancouver Sea to Sky seat but ending up holding sway in the government overall.
Throughout the election campaign, his fellow candidates—and the media—counted him out on being able to deliver on any of his promises, as he would be a grain of sand in the sea of a prevailing government—NDP or Conservative.
He and the Greens showed that every vote truly does count, with the NDP now holding onto power by its fingernails and needing to consider the Greens much more than it might have, if it wants to pass significant legislation.
But a hard-fought win is likely going to seem the easiest part of Valeriote’s MLA stint by the time his term is over.
He told voters he was the only candidate who would push to cancel the permits on Woodfibre LNG and achieve regional transit.
At the Whistler all-candidates debate in the lead-up to the election, he said, “Any government can cancel an LNG project … at any point it wants...
“It is a fact that it [comes with] big compensation, but I suggest that compensation will pale in comparison with the $2 billion in subsidies that we’re already handing over—never mind the climate costs and the health impacts.”
But now, with negotiations underway between the Greens and the NDP, will he be able to sway his leader, fellow Greens and Premier David Eby?
So far, there is no hint that this is the case.
The Canadian Press reported that when Eby announced that there would be no sitting of the Legislature until the new year, he said he “would work with the two Green members of the legislature or any other members of the Opposition on the government’s priority issues of cost of living, housing and health care.”
No LNG or transit in that shortlist.
Valeriote himself has backed away from axing Woodfibre LNG as his calling card since being elected, leaning instead on regional transit in our and other media interviews.
But even there, he and fellow Green MLA Rob Botterell seemed to tell the National Observer they would be valuable even if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted from the NDP, just as Sonia Furstenau and former MLA Adam Olsen had in their time.
“Whether or not those discussions [with the NDP] are successful, we can have an outsized presence in the legislature and really speak truth to power,” Botterell said.
Ultimately, does it matter to Valeriote’s base if he doesn’t accomplish what he said he would on the campaign trail? Perhaps it is enough to have two politicians focused on the environment in the leg.
Only time will tell, but if there is one thing we have learned over the last four years of his campaigning for this seat, be wary of counting Valeriote out.
