The word "historic" gets tossed around with abandon these days, but that was the right way to describe what unfolded Monday afternoon in the foyer outside the B.C. legislature chamber.
The setting itself was apt: The ceremonial entrance open and the chamber beyond fully lighted, 87 desks in place, awaiting confirmation as to who would be sitting on the government side, who in Opposition.
The first sign of where things were headed came shortly before 1 p.m. as NDP staffers set up lights, wiring and two microphones for what promised to be a joint announcement.
At 2 p.m. precisely, NDP Leader John Horgan and Green Leader Andrew Weaver entered through a side door and made their way to the microphones amid a palpable buzz in the room.
Weaver started it off, being the one who'd earlier in the day made the judgment call that brought the two of them to that space at that moment.
He and Horgan had together concluded an extraordinary - and for this province unprecedented - agreement to share power for the next four years.
A confidence and supply agreement, they called it. Supply being approval from a majority of MLAs to spend the $50 billion in public funds in a typical provincial budget - and thus the key determination of whether a government has the confidence of the house.
Horgan followed his newfound partner in government with assurances that this agreement was not merely the guarantee of change that both parties promised in the election, but also the hoped-for agent of stability for the next four years.
Details to come once the final text is approved by all 41 members of the NDP caucus in Victoria today.
The New Democrat signatures, along with those of the three Greens, will then be conveyed to the Lt-Gov. Judith Guichon as proof the agreement commands the support of a majority of the house.
A bare majority, that is: 44 Greens and New Democrats to 43 B.C. Liberals and things don't get any closer than that in parliamentary terms.
Weaver on Friday speculated that the procedural rules of the house will be redrafted to minimize the occasions where the Speaker will be called on to use tie-breaking power to expedite passage of legislation and budgets.
First question from the media scrum: do the two leaders have someone in mind who could serve as Speaker?
Not any name that they were prepared to share publicly. But the New Democrats have been sounding out possibilities.
The latest being Sam Sullivan, newly re-elected B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek.
Some New Democrats are mindful of his rocky relationship with Christy Clark, going back to when he defeated her for the NPA nomination to run for mayor of Vancouver in 2005.
Notwithstanding Horgan's wait-and-see admonition on the contents of the four-year agreement, Weaver disclosed one item by way of discussing one factor that drove him into the arms of the New Democrats over the B.C. Liberals.
"Kinder Morgan was critical to us and I think you'll see that reflected in tomorrow's announcement," he told reporters, referring to the planned twinning of the company's existing pipeline through B.C.
