The Peak caught up with Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons on Thursday, June 29, the day after an historic vote of non-confidence brought an end to 16 years of BC Liberal governments. The following interview is edited for length.
Can you describe the mood in Victoria yesterday?
It was a very exciting day, obviously filled with drama with a lot of things happening all at once. We anticipated the vote would be in the afternoon. As soon as the premier got up we realized she was going to be the last speaker. We voted and the gallery erupted in applause.
How are you feeling about your party forming government for the first time since you were elected?
It’s a mixture of great satisfaction and, at the same time, almost a somber moment of reflection. It’s a new day for British Columbia after 16 years of a government with one particular objective. Now we have a government that will look at the interests of the broader population: the people of the province.
How will the new government address the BC Liberals’ legacy of the past decade and a half?
There are some things that are working in this province and we need to make sure we realize that while certain things are working well, we’ve also seen issues around affordability, we have a major opioid crisis that continues and has not been stemmed, we have issues around the supreme court ruling on education, and obviously there are things to fix in almost every sector. People are going to see some positive changes. We’re excited that the opposition Liberals support our plan for child care and our plan for increasing welfare rates and ensuring our economy remains strong. I think we’ll see some relative peace.
Do you honestly think the Liberals support the NDP’s platform positions?
They put their throne speech together in the hope that it would attract some adherents from members on the opposite benches. Why would we doubt their sincerity? We just doubt their capacity to carry out what they now claim to be their priorities.
With the Liberals suggesting the NDP/Green government will not be stable because it will rely on the legislature’s speaker, a position that is supposed to be non-partisan, voting to break ties, how is the government going to make it work?
First, the fact that the current speaker Steve Thomson resigned when the confidence vote took place indicates the Liberals clearly see the speaker’s role as partisan. The truth is we have a system in place so that if there is a tie, the speaker breaks the tie. I’m sure we’ll get through this issue. How exactly is it all going to work? It’s hard to predict exactly what’s going to happen at this point, but I can be confident in saying we’ll have an effective government and good results for the province.
