The fifth season of House of Cards came out Tuesday on Netflix. Every B.C. MLA should be banned from watching the devious political machinations of Frank and Claire Underwood.
Other shows that should be restricted from MLAs include Scandal, Designated Survivor, Game of Thrones and any other show where conspiracies run rampant, backstabbing is constant and winning at any cost is all that matters.
That's fine for TV but in real life, where the politicians are people who put their names forward for public office because they wanted to help make their communities and their province better for all residents, we need something different. Donald Trump may see the world as a zero-sum game where there are only winner or losers but the 87 grownups B.C. residents chose to represent them in the Legislature know better. They know that when their constituents win, they win, and that's the only game worth playing.
The 87 MLAs need to listen to their advisers less, because it's not their names on the ballot and their bums in the green seats in the Legislature. The advisers and party officials frame politics as a battle of wills, intelligence and ideology, rather than the democratic framework that delivers schools, hospitals, highways and many other parts of our infrastructure through our tax dollars.
The 87 MLAs need to listen to the political commentary, including this one, less because, like their advisers, we pay too much heed to polls, history, optics, talking points, policy, strategy and how near or far the next election is.
The 87 MLAs need to spend far less time talking about how hard they are working and listen far more to their constituents, especially the ones that didn't work on their campaign, that don't follow politics and that didn't vote for them.
Filled with both humility and the sense of responsibility that their position entails, the 87 MLAs should head to Victoria with optimism and pride in the opportunity afforded them, not fearful of the backroom skullduggery or - even worse - planning how to get even with adversaries in a never-ending war of one-upmanship.
From that standpoint, Premier Christy Clark made the right decision Tuesday to leave the final decision regarding the fate of her government in the hands of the 87 MLAs elected to represent B.C. residents.
On one hand, it seems like a waste of time, a needless formality after the deal reached to form government by the NDP, led by John Horgan, and the Greens, led by Andrew Weaver. Horgan and Weaver have a combined 44 MLAs in their pocket, Clark only 43, so it's a numbers game and Clark loses.
On the other hand, her decision is respectful of the process and the final authority of the Legislature.
With the most seats, Clark serves as premier until a majority of MLAs vote her and the Liberals out. That vote, Clark said Tuesday, will happen as soon as can be scheduled in June. B.C. NDP MP Nathan Cullen ungraciously called it ego and the definition of power hungry on Twitter but the opposite is true. The easy thing to do would have been to resign Tuesday afternoon. The harder thing will be to sit through a humiliating vote she will almost certainly lose, if only for the appearance of serving democracy.
Between now and the vote, a member of the Green or NDP caucus could cross the floor and give the Liberals their majority and bring Clark and the Liberals back from the grave. Lt. Gov. Judith Guichon could ignore the Horgan/Weaver deal and order a new election. Both scenarios, while possible, are remote and belong to those House of Cards fans.
Back in reality, the divided Legislature is an opportunity for party and politics to take a back seat to people and principle. All three leaders are talking about representing residents and working together in the wake of this vote so let's see them do it.
Both the formality of the NDP-Green deal, as well as the specifics released Tuesday, suggest Horgan and Weaver plan a lengthy partnership on common parts of their agenda, which would fly in the face of the historical instability of minority governments. When asked Tuesday if she would recommend the lieutenant governor call another election after being defeated in the Legislature, Clark said no not just once but three times. She would accept serving as Her Majesty's Leader of the Opposition, the job the voters have given her, to put it in her words.
However awkward and unstable the government is, this is the government the people chose and they expect the 87 MLAs, guided by their three leaders, to make it work.
What's been exciting to watch about this process is how completely opposite it has been from what's going on in Washington, where a megalomaniac ignorant of the law, democracy and the process of governance sits in the Oval Office, demanding everyone love and obey him.
They certainly aren't perfect, they're often guilty of partisan mudslinging and they sometimes lower themselves into the kind of schemes better suited to TV dramas, but the 87 MLAs elected May 9 share a common purpose far greater than their own self-interest.
It's too soon to judge whether this group will rise to those expectations but the first glimpse seems promising.
