Prince George, B.C. – Members of the B.C. New Democratic Part gathered in West Vancouver Sunday afternoon for the inauguration of their newly acclaimed leader, John Horgan.

The preamble leading to Horgan’s introduction included a welcome from David Eby, the NDP MLA who took the previously “safe” Liberal seat away from Christy Clark in the May 2013 election, and a pronouncement from party President Craig Keating that a Horgan-led NDP would form the next provincial government in 2017.

With that Horgan, the Vancouver Island MLA for Juan de Fuca, told a roomful of supporters that “it’s an honor to stand before you and say something I never ever, ever thought I would say, I am so proud to be the leader of the BC NDP.”  Speaking to British Columbians Horgan said “it’s such a beautiful and diverse province, unparalleled beauty, a resource bounty that’s the envy of the world and our people, the integrity, intelligence and depth of our communities is so profound, and I’m just so proud to be here leading the official opposition as we go into the legislature (on Monday) to take the Liberals to task, and I can assure you, we’re going to take them to task.”

During a twenty-two minute speech Horgan spoke of his Irish ancestry, how his father died when he was a child and left his mother to raise four kids.  “And when I hear Christy Clark and the Liberals talk about families first, when they take child support payments back from single mothers, I can relate to that.”  He noted the influence his mother and sister had in his life and took the Clark government to task over the deaths of women along Highway 16.  “When I see what B.C. Liberals are doing on issues like the Highway of Tears, it shocks me and disappoints me.  And I’m so proud to have colleagues like Jennifer Rice and Carole James and Maureen Karagianis working on those issues every single day.”

Horgan says he is particularly interested in protecting, enhancing and promoting public services and public servants.  He said it was a teacher who got him straightened around when he was heading down a wrong track as a teenager.  “So when I see BC Liberals picking fights with teachers, demonizing teachers and feigning concern for our kids, I don’t see that at all.  I look at the public education system and I say were it not for that, I would not be here today.”

The NDP leader says public services and amenities such as parks, libraries and recreation centres are “the things that make communities, staffed by public servants who are dedicated and build communities when they’re not at work.  The coach the hockey teams, teach band recital and do so many things in our communities.  The core of who we are are the places where we live, and they are predominantly public services.  We need to defend those services against the most drastic cuts they have ever seen.”

He says government is supposed to try to make life better, not harder.  “Families first doesn’t mean 28% rate increases at BC Hydro, doesn’t mean picking a fight with teachers and putting our children’s education at risk, and putting families first does not mean taking child support payments away from single mothers and children when they desperately need that money.  That’s hypocrisy and I’m going to call out hypocrisy wherever I see it.”  Horgan says communities and people is what the New Democratic Party is going to be all about under his leadership.  He says “Families First can’t be just a slogan, it has to be the fundamental foundation of our movement and I believe together, we can make that happen again.”

Horgan attacked the Liberals for putting the Agricultural Land Reserve at risk, and says “we’re going to fight Bill 24 to the end of this session right through the summer.”  On ICBC Horgan says “ironically Todd Stone, before he was elected and became the Minister of Transportation was appointed by the Liberals to the ICBC Board.  Yet he seemed absolutely shocked to learn that they’ve been mismanaging the corporation for the past ten years.  Staggering.  He says he’s going to get to the bottom of this, well why don’t you go back and look at your notes Todd, you were on the Board of Directors.”

Horgan spoke of the terrible tragedy at the Western Forest Products sawmill in Nanaimo last week and says “it was profoundly shaking for all of us on the island and right across the country.”  He noted the two men killed with a shotgun went to work and didn’t come home.  “It’s an unimaginable horror that we see on U.S. television and we never expect to happen to us.  But it’s a result of dislocation and stress and unease in communities.  And government, I firmly believe, has a role to play in ensuring that this type of dislocation is managed as appropriately as it can be.”

Horgan says it appears the Liberals think they have the coroner on the economy.  “They’re going to be debt free, I saw it on the bus.  It’s gotta be coming any day now, it’s on the bus, big print, big font they must be serious about it.”  He says the debt in B.C. has gone up faster under the B.C. Liberal watch than any time in our history.  “And in fact, ironically, under Christy Clark’s watch it’s gone up faster than under any premier in our history.”  He calls it distortion of reality and says in the run-up to the next provincial election his party needs to “take back issues which have been taken away from us.  How is it possible that people working for a living are not looking to New Democrats as the place to park their boats?  We have a lot of work to do to earn support across the province.  We have to send a message of hope and opportunity to people so that they will look at New Democrat names on the ballot and say me life will be better if I put an “x” beside that name.”

Horgan says the NDP has to have a message that resonates with communities and young families who want to have the hope that their kids will be able to grow up in the same community that they did.  He says “Fort MacMurray is a nice place, I visited it, I don’t want to live there.  I don’t want my children to live there, not because there’s not opportunity there but because I want opportunity in British Columbia for our kids and our children’s kids and their children’s kids.”

Horgan says there needs to be a discussion about “how we exploit our natural resources is a balanced way.  We need to respect our air and water and our land, we need to respect our First Nations, to respect and ensure there’s a legacy like the Columbia Basin Trust in the Kootenays for communities to depend on when times are lean.  A balanced approach to resource extraction means robust environmental standards, ensuring that there are jobs in communities in every part of this province.  We didn’t deliver that message effectively 12 months ago.  I’m prepared to go anywhere and tale to anyone at any time about the importance of economic growth within the context of a balanced approach to our environment, and ensuring that our First Nations are dealt in.”  He calls that an imperative he will not lose sight of.

Horgan thanked former leader Adrian Dix for all of the work he put into party, Mike Farnworth who stepped out of the leadership race to make way for Horgan’s acclamation,  and  Carole James for the support and confidence she has given to his leadership.  And he wrapped up his speech saying the BC NDP garnered 720-thousand votes in the last election.  “We need another 15-thousand folks to make it a nice tidy win, let’s double that, triple that and make sure that in 2017 people come to the ballot box and vote for us with confidence that the values they bring to the box are going to be in the government that they elect.”