As B.C. Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau speaks to the media Wednesday afternoon, the possibility of her party propping up a minority government led by Premier David Eby of B.C. NDP is drawing a range of reactions and recommendations.

The Greens announced Tuesday (Oct. 22) that despite losing her bid for MLA in the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding. 

Initial counts show the B.C. NDP leading in 46 seats, the Conservative Party of B.C. with 45 seats and the B.C. Greens with two seats. Forty-seven seats are needed for a majority.

Peter Milobar, a former B.C. United MLA, now the Conservative MLA-elect for Kamloops Centre, cautioned against too much speculation at this time in pointing out that two seats are subjects of automatic recounts with the counting set to take place Oct. 26-28.

That is also when officials will count absentee and mail-in-ballots.

"Conversations are dramatically different if it is the current seat count, versus we flip one, or we flip two, or if we flip three," he said. "So I think we just need to let the process to play out."

If the seat count were to stay the same, Milobar expressed hope that the B.C. Greens keep an open mind.

"If the Green Party is sincere about saying they want to be the balance of power ... was that with an asterix, was that only with one party? Or was it that they were willing to try to see in discussions, if there is a way forward on some broader issues, to find some work of working relationship? But we are a long ways away from that."

Eby said Tuesday that his party has reached out to the B.C. Greens, but was told that the party is not yet ready for talks, something Milobar can understand.

"Let's wait and see what happens with the weekend and the votes and what the seats are."

He also raised questioned about Eby's sincerity toward the B.C. Greens. Milobar said Eby "flip-flopped on all sorts of things" near and dear to Greens such as the carbon tax and decriminalization among other issues.

Torrance Coste, associate director with the B.C. Wilderness Committee, said it is hard what the Greens must include in any future agreement with the B.C. NDP.

"The B.C. Greens have a lot of leverage, but it's unclear how much the NDP would be willing to grant before saying no, and potentially triggering another election," Coste said.

"A huge temptation would be to push for electoral reform -- after all, if recognizing the majority of voters support progressive values is a priority for the NDP, then bringing in a form of democracy that ensures the majority of votes are always, not just sometimes, reflected in the legislature would make sense."

But the B.C. NDP might not go for such an arrangement, he added. "(While) a form of proportional representation would likely ensure the (Conservative Party of B.C.) doesn't ever form a majority, it would also probably mean the 2020-2024 legislature saw the last NDP majority government as well," he said.

He added that past commitments by the B.C. NDP around protecting old-growth forest and prioritizing biodiversity above resource extractions very much align with Green policies and could serve as the basis for a potential confidence and supply agreement.

"If I was advising them today, I say, 'PR or Bust,'" Andrew Reeve, press secretary and deputy director of communications for the B.C. United caucus, said. "That demand would be even more powerful today than it would have been in 2017 because the B.C. NDP can't go back to the polls," he said.

"Without the Independents running again, Conservatives have several easy seats to pick up."

If the B.C. NDP does not agree to PR, then the Greens should "just sit back and get final say on every piece of NDP legislation."

Reeve said the B.C. Greens signed away leverage when they had agreed to a confidence-and-supply agreement back in 2017. Eby's predecessor John Horgan prematurely terminated that agreement in 2020.

Greg Millard, former chair of political science at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, said the "most rationale path" for the B.C. Greens would be to sign such an agreement.

"However, there's clearly some bad blood there," he said. "Clearly, the Green Party feels a little bit burned from their experience.

That being the case, we don't know how it is going to play out. They might take an issue-by-issue approach."

More to come.