Article content continued

He also knew his threat had no legal or constitutional basis.

But he did it anyway as a sop to the three anti-pipeline Green Party MLAs who hold the balance of power in B.C.

Horgan was playing political theatre for the benefit of the folks back home. A tad melodramatic perhaps, but anything to boost his shaky rating with the Greens.

At least I hope he knew what he was doing. That would at least shade his actions with a degree of shrewdness.

If he really is as innocent and naive and, to be blunt, as politically ignorant as he has tried to appear the past week, the people of B.C. should give their heads a shake. Or, more to the point, they should give their premier’s head a shake.

A first year political science student could have predicted Notley’s reaction, never mind an NDP premier who is a personal friend of Alberta’s NDP premier.

Or maybe Horgan suspected Notley would indeed retaliate, thus allowing him to play the role of “cooler head” to Notley’s hothead by refusing to escalate the trade war that has seen Alberta boycott B.C. wines.

“I’m not responding in any way other than saying I’ll defend our wine industry. I’m here for B.C., not for Alberta,” said Horgan. “I’ve spoken with the prime minister and the premier of Alberta. I’ve made it clear to both of them that the interests of British Columbians are my priority, nor will I be distracted by the events happening in other jurisdictions.”

Except that the “events happening in other jurisdictions” (the wine boycott and Alberta suspending negotiations on buying B.C. hydro electricity) have a direct impact on his province.