In less than two weeks the world’s most important election will take place, and the world awaits with baited breath. The result could be very good or very, very bad. Regardless of what the Americans do, I can at least find satisfaction in two of our recent provincial elections.

I was pleased to see the Liberals’ triumph in New Brunswick, doubling their seats. PC Leader Blaine Higgs went down to defeat along with a number of his cabinet ministers. With 49 percent of the popular vote for the Liberals plus 14 percent for the Greens, it appears New Brunswick is definitely in the mood for progressive government. Perhaps all is not dark for the federal Liberals.

Especially pleasing was Susan Holt becoming premier, joining our very own Danielle Smith as the only two women premiers in our ten provinces and three territories. Not so pleasing to see was the Green Party with one less seat.

Speaking of the Greens brings us to the BC election. They only won two seats, but two seats of substance. To date (the final count is still not in as I write), the NDP have squeezed out a narrow win with 46 seats to the Conservatives 45. The Greens two seats make them tie-breakers.

I’m a supporter of the NDP but their performance on the environment has not always gladdened my heart. If they have to depend on the environmentally-oriented Greens for their survival, they just might do better things.

When a Liberal government first instituted a carbon tax in BC, one of our most effective instruments in fighting global warming, the NDP along with the Conservatives opposed it. According to the World Bank, BC’s tax has been very effective in spurring fuel efficiency gains.

BC Premier David Eby, who once expressed powerful support for the tax, saying only a year ago, “Let me be clear, we will not back down. God forbid, if the rest of the country abandons the fight against climate, BC will stand strong.” Well, a year in politics is a long time. Now Eby says his government would scrap the carbon tax if the federal government dropped the requirement for the provinces to keep the tax in place. So much for standing strong.

The federal NDP are backing off as well. After arbitrarily ending his party’s supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals, party leader Jagmeet Singh wouldn’t say whether he would keep the federal consumer carbon tax if his party formed a government. He explained, “We want to see an approach to fighting the climate crisis where it doesn’t put the burden on the backs of working people, where big polluters have to pay their fair share.” There already is a tax on large industrial polluters. Whether or not it demands their fair share is questionable; nonetheless we all pollute and we should all stand accountable for our sins, with a little help for the vulnerable of course.

The Greens looking over the shoulders of the NDP might just put some environmental backbone in the BC government. And that adds the icing to the cake.