by Sean Orr | GreeNDP! B.C. Greens agree to support NDP in minority legislature.

As Dock Currie says, “I dislike Andrew Weaver 30% less now”. As Sean Antrim says, “Faster ferries”! As Nicholas Ellan says, “First Clinton, now Clark… it’s been a very rough year for neoliberal sociopath pseudo-feminist social climbers”.

Stuart Parker, the former leader of the BC Green Party says, “I cannot believe it. Thirty years of unmitigated failure and betrayal and suddenly I get what I’ve been working for politically for a generation!? I have literally no emotional equipment to cope with what is happening right now. I guess I should be really really happy but the shock has yet to wear off”.

Here is Stuart’s Secret History of the Failed NDP-Green Alliance of the 90s.

So there we have it. The first Green-Social Democrat governing alliance in North American history. Just remember though, it’s not a coalition. It’s a supply and confidence agreement to support a minority government. And I’m not a rapper.

And while I want to remain cautiously optimistic, I can’t help but rejoice!

The reason I remain cautiously optimistic is that in typical fashion, Clark has not yet conceded: Clark won’t quit as B.C. premier, will recall house. Of course, she has so much respect for parliamentary traditions — probably why she was never there. Best quote: “She wants to make it a public event when she receives the vote of non confidence. Is there anyway this could be done in BC Place. I would love to attend that show” – Robb Armstrong.

Runner up:

Evidently, #ChristyClark has a few more weeks worth of documents to shred and emails to triple-delete. #bcpoli

— Stuart Parker (@stuartlosaltos) May 30, 2017

The second reason to be cautiously optimistic is the media. If you’re old enough to remember the NDP in the 90s you know what I’m talking about. The media was merciless. Even now, they have some interesting words on the agreement:

.@VancouverSun and @theprovince front pages today #bcpoli pic.twitter.com/W6ntaM819n

— Rob Shaw (@robshaw_vansun) May 30, 2017

Reason number 3: the Alberta NDP, the BC Liberals, the Liberal Party of Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada, and Kinder Morgan are now all at odds with the BC NDP and the BC Greens. That’s a lot of powerful people that want to see the minority government fail. And if they do, they will say “Oh look how divisive the left is! We had a stable government for 16 years, blah blah blah”: Notley warns B.C. NDP, Greens not to ‘stand in the way’ of Trans Mountain expansion.

Some levity: White smoke billows from BC pot shops indicating a new government has been chosen

Now the talk turns to how electoral reform will be implemented. Bill Tieleman says with apparent amnesia of transit referendum, the HST referendum, the 57% in favour of STV referendum, and California’s disastrous ballot initiatives, that the Greens, NDP Would Sacrifice Legitimacy By Imposing Proportional Representation. Bollocks. Again, Stuart Parker reminds us “we conflate ‘democratically representative’ and ‘demographically representative’ at our peril”.

Here’s The Tyee’s counterpoint: Why Referenda — on Electoral Reform or Any Other Issue — Are Bad Democracy

Let’s do a quick thought experiment. Pretend every voting British Columbian devotes a year to reading and participating in public hearings about electoral reform. At the end of the year, as informed voters, we will hold a referendum.

Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 people died of overdoses in B.C. last year, and many believe our legal and medical approach to addiction needs to a total overhaul. Shall we just let another thousand people die while we are focussed on electoral reform?

So we are in a bind. Our system of governance relies on informed voters, but we are dealing with issues too complex for people to become fully informed, issues so complex that people devote their entire lives to their study.

Indeed, so while Christy clings to power for a few more weeks, this: Vancouver’s opioid crisis can be measured in discarded needles. My god, the tournicates.

Even the fucking RCMP are calling for prescription heroin: Vancouver police call for prescription heroin amid ongoing overdose crisis.

Meanwhile, gentrifying restaurants complain about being gentrified: Are Commercial Rents Crushing a New Generation of Restaurant Innovation?. Wherein VanMag glorifies Steven Lippman, a real estate speculator who is the culpable in the very same price increases they bemoan. He’s one of the most notorious landlords in the DTES, known for upscaling SROs and frequent renovictions. They then go on to blame taxes, despite the fact that Vancouver has the second lowest commercial tax rate in the entire country.

You opened too many restaurants, Vancouver. The staff can’t afford to live here, hell the fucking owners can’t even afford to live here. It’s a bubble. I tend to agree with Paul Grunberg’s (full disclosure: my boss) dog-eat-dog stance that competition is healthy and you have to work harder and be the best.

That being said, I really wish people wold stop complaining about food costs in this city. Once again, avocado toast as the barometer: The Cost of Avocado Toast, Explained by a Restaurateur.

Meanwhile, Heated battle over Chinatown’s future pours into council chambers. The people have spoken.

Related tweet of the day:

Look, it’s crude, but it’s the #105keefer solution we need most.

(not pictured: thousands of social housing units in #chinatownyvr/dtes) pic.twitter.com/Hhw2yeYxqr

— ?????vyas (@vyassaran) May 30, 2017

Developer co-opts leftist style grass roots movement of the day: Surrey developer staging “pep rally” Monday, wanting to “start a movement” in Whalley.

People are the worst of the day: ‘Most dangerous situation I’ve ever seen’: B.C. hot springs closed over food-habituated bears.

Runner up: Vancouver family behind Steveston sea lion incident contemplates legal action. I think these people think that the Good Samaritan law is an actual thing:

Music of the day: Video Premiere: Eli Muro – “Untangling”.

Bonus: Drake says he wants a tattoo of Céline Dion, so we asked these artists to design him one.