What do you get when you mix green and orange? A potential end to the BC Liberals’ 16-year dynastic rule of Canada’s Pacific province.

In a surprise press conference on Monday, the leaders of B.C.’s NDP and Green parties announced they are willing to join forces to unseat Liberal Premier Christy Clark, whose party won 43 seats in B.C.’s May 9 election -- just one seat shy of being able to form a majority government. The NDP, meanwhile, had clinched 41 seats while the Greens won three. Together, the two opposition parties have more than 57 per cent of the popular vote and a razor-thin majority in B.C.’s legislature.

“I am very excited about the prospect of delivering for the people of British Columbia what they voted for on May 9th, and that was change ,” B.C. NDP leader John Horgan told reporters on Monday. “I’m very excited about the prospect of stable government and demonstrating to British Columbians that we can do great things when we work together.”

Horgan and B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver used the press conference as an opportunity to highlight their parties’ shared vision of an NDP-led minority government buoyed by Green support, a proposal which stills needs to be approved by the NDP’s caucus and B.C.’s lieutenant-governor -- and possibly Clark herself. And while the two leaders promised to reveal their shared positions in a document to be released on Tuesday, they also gave a few hints as to the issues that unite them:

ELECTORAL REFORM

Both parties have advocated for replacing B.C.’s first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional representation, which would distribute seats in B.C.’s legislature according to a party’s share of the popular vote. First-past-the-post has benefited the B.C. Liberals, who netted 49.4 per cent of the legislature’s seats in May with only 40.4 per cent of the popular vote. With a widely-distributed support base, the Greens have suffered the most under first-past-the-post, receiving only 3.4 per cent of the seats in B.C.’s legislature in the last election despite winning 16.8 per cent of the popular vote.

“We’re looking to show to British Columbians that minority governments can work,” Weaver told reporters on Monday. “And what better way to show that proportional representation could work by showing that a minority government can and will work in the best interest of people throughout its session.”

PIPELINES

The Greens’ longstanding opposition to new and expanded oil pipelines has been well-documented, and that stance appears to have played an integral role in their negotiations with the NDP, who have also opposed projects like Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion, which has already been approved by the federal Liberals.

“The issue of Kinder Morgan is one that I have been heavily invested in,” Weaver said at the press conference. “This issue of Kinder Morgan is one that was critical to us.”

JOB GROWTH

At their press conference, both Horgan and Weaver criticized Clark’s record on job creation.

“Under this minority, you will actually see job growth -- real, stable, secure job growth,” Weaver said. “Not boom-and-bust job growth; not build a big project here so that everyone goes out of work five years later; not job growth focused exclusively on an out-of-control real estate sector in Vancouver; but distributed, real, high-paying, fair wage jobs across the province.”

That sentiment was echoed by Horgan.

“Our objective, as we form a government, is to ensure that we keep the economy going and we make sure we’re preparing for the economy of the future… as well as making sure that our foundational industries like forestry are at the front and centre,” Horgan said.

OTHER ISSUES

According to The Canadian Press, the Green party’s other key demands included gaining official party status (under current rules, a party in B.C. needs four seats for this), which would allow it, amongst other things, to have more floor time during question period. The Greens also called for political fundraising reform. Unlike in federal politics and the majority of Canada’s provinces, there are currently no campaign contribution limits in B.C.

With files from The Canadian Press