Talk:Premier of British Columbia

"Until" vs 1952-1972

Saw this:

Until the early 1970s the title Prime Minister of British Columbia was often used.

I'm not quite sure about this, but it seems to me that while that's true, it was only W.A.C. Bennett who affected that title, not any of his predecessors; had to do with his quasi-separatist tendencies and his bucking Ottawa over the Columbia River Treaty, wanting to annex the Yukon, and make BC an "equal player" with Quebec and Ontario. So while it's true 1952-1972, I'm dubious that any of McBride, de Cosmos, Pattullo, et al. ad nauseam ever used it...I"m dubious it was ever used on official letterhead, or repated by the media in any but sardonic tones (when not being craven, as is often the case with BC papers...TV especially) Skookum1 (talk) 20:03, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Note

The office of premier is not currently "vacant". It is in fact, constitutionally impossible for the office to be vacant at all; even in the situation as it stands right now, Christy Clark still is the incumbent premier on a caretaker basis until such time as Horgan is actually sworn in by Judith Guichon, which will likely not be for at least another week or two. The outgoing premier or prime minister still holds the office until the designate is sworn in, and the office is never "vacant" at all. (Even in the event of an incumbent premier's death, the deputy premier would still immediately accede to the acting premiership, so there would still be no vacancy in the office.) Bearcat (talk) 18:31, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

• Several points in this are inaccurate. In the ordinary course of business, there would necessarily be a brief vacancy between the resignation of the outgoing Premier and the incoming Premier. In fact, there have been several more consequential vacancies in the premiership in BC's history (see List_of_premiers_of_British_Columbia#Premiers_of_British_Columbia) and elsewhere in Westminster polities. Further, the only manner in which somebody can become Premier is by accepting an invitation by the Crown to form a government. The accession of a Deputy Premier, assuming there is one, is not assured. Although acting ministers minutes may be passed, these presuppose the existence of a Premier and expire upon his or her ceasing to occupy office. Jagislaqroo (talk) 22:34, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

No, that's not really how it works — what you're missing is the distinction between "premier" and "acting premier". I did not say that the deputy premier would instantly become the new permanent premier without having to be sworn in as such by the LG — but they most certainly would immediately become the acting leader of the government for at least the period of time between the death and the swearing-in ceremony, precisely because somebody has to be holding down the fort to manage things during that period of uncertainty. Yes, they would still have to be sworn in by the LG before they could drop the "acting", and yes, the LG could swear a different member of the party's caucus in as the new premier instead if that was the governing party's request — but somebody still has to be the acting leader during the hours or days in between those events, because the government can't function at all if there's nobody at least nominally leading the ship as a caretaker.

An acting leader does not have to be sworn in by the same manner as a permanent leader does — continuity of government function requires that there's somebody effectively in charge at all times, even if only temporarily — which is precisely why deputy premiers and deputy PMs are even appointed in the first place. The office wouldn't even be necessary if there weren't a need to have contingency plans in place for who would manage government operations during the hours or days it took to get the longer-term stuff sorted out if the premier or prime minister died in office or had to suddenly resign — the office doesn't come with any other duties besides "be prepared to step in as the de facto manager of things for at least a day or two if necessary".

And the only "vacancies" in the office of premier evident in that list were all over 100 years ago, and have no bearing on how things would work today: constitutional and political conventions have changed since the 19th century. Back then, the GG or LG themselves was the "caretaker" leader in the event of a leadership vacuum in the legislature, because the GG/LG had a lot more power over political affairs than they do now — but that's not the way it works today. In the "ordinary course of business", in fact, any actual vacancy in the premiership today is a technicality that lasts no longer than a matter of minutes and has no practical significance. Bearcat (talk) 13:34, 3 July 2017 (UTC)

premier-designate

It should be changed to say that Horgan is expected to be appointed and not imply that he is in any way "designated". 216.8.145.227 (talk) 14:30, 5 July 2017 (UTC)

"Expected to be appointed" is what "premier-designate" means. Bearcat (talk) 20:06, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

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