According to the B.C. Liberals, lessons learned from winning the battle but losing the war in the recent provincial election pushed them to make two serious u-turns in political direction. Hogwash.

Social Development Minister Heather Stillwellsa国际传媒檚 insistence the Liberals will increase welfare rates by $100 per monthsa国际传媒攁fter a decade-long freezesa国际传媒攁nd Attorney General Andrew Wilkinsonsa国际传媒檚 saying big money donations to parties will be banned are political moves, pure and simple.

They are aimed at making the NDP and Greens vote against two positions they support when they vote down the Liberalssa国际传媒� Throne Speech in order to bring down Christy Clarksa国际传媒檚 government. They will also be used by the Liberals to claim credit when they are reintroduced in the coming months by the yet-to-be installed new NDP minority government.

Cynical? Nah. Itsa国际传媒檚 the way politics is played.

So too is the kerfuffle brewing over the tenure of the speaker of the Legislature the Liberals plan to put forward later this week. But in that case, the Liberals are right.

Itsa国际传媒檚 not up to the Liberals to provide a speaker for a party that not only plans to bring down Clarksa国际传媒檚 government, but also plans to do it to take the reigns of power with a one-seat majority thanks to the B.C. Greens.

As the NDP has pointed out, the party in power has a responsibility to appoint a speaker. If thatsa国际传媒檚 the NDP, itsa国际传媒檚 their job. If itsa国际传媒檚 to the detriment of NDP voting strength, thatsa国际传媒檚 its problem.

So the Liberal speaker plans to step down after the Liberal government is brought down. And the NDPsa国际传媒檚 one-seat majority will evaporate in straight forward head-to-head voting with the Liberals in the Legislature. That is unless its sa国际传媒渘eutralsa国际传媒� speaker starts regularly breaking tied votes in its favour. And thatsa国际传媒檚 something the supposedly neutral speaker is only expected to do on rare occasions, not as a matter of course. Kinda takes the neutrality out of the job, eh?

But welcome to the new normal of B.C politics.

All this, of course, is because voters left the make-up of the Legislature at 43 seats for the Liberals, 41 for the NDP and three for the Greens.

And these issues are just a foreshadow of some of the difficulties facing an NDP minority government. Whether itsa国际传媒檚 a final decision on the Site C damsa国际传媒攁 real Hobsonsa国际传媒檚 choice for leader and premier-in-waiting John Horgansa国际传媒攎inimum wage or Lower Mainland bridge tolls, Clarksa国际传媒檚 Liberals are not about to make this easy for him.

And remember, Clark told us she heard the message from voters loud and clear. She said they want B.C. politicians to work better together. If this is sa国际传媒渂etter,sa国际传媒� Isa国际传媒檇 hate to see when things really get ugly and both sides drop the gloves for some real parliamentary pugilism.

One thing is for sure, the start of the next B.C. election campaign, not matter when that vote occurs, will start the minute MLAs walk into the Legislature later this week. So donsa国际传媒檛 expect Robertsa国际传媒檚, or anyone elsesa国际传媒檚, Rules of Order.

Alistair Waters is the assistant editor of the Capital News.