BC NDP Leader John Horgan made his first campaign stop in Prince George Thursday – photo 250News

Prince George, B.C. – A standing room only crowd offered NDP Leader John Horgan a boisterous welcome to Prince George at Nancy O’s restaurant this morning.

With just 12 days to go until General Voting Day it was his first visit here during the provincial election campaign though he was quick to dismiss criticism by Liberal candidate Shirley Bond this morning that he should have been here sooner.

“I’ve been in and out of Prince George the past three years as leader of the opposition talking to people, building relationships, making friendships,” Horgan told a throng of reporters.

“Election campaigns are 28-days and Christy Clark has about $20 billion dollars more than I do to run a campaign and is well-financed by corporate interests and the well-connected. I got to Prince George today and I’m going to be in every other community up and down the Coast and into the Interior and back to Vancouver Island tomorrow. This notion of who got there first – I mean that’s middle-school stuff man.”

He spoke most of Canada’s softwood lumber dispute with the U.S. and claimed Premier Christy Clark has “been asleep at the switch” on the issue.

So, how would he handle the file if elected?

“I’d be aggressive with the U.S. My solution would have been to be there 2.5 years ago not two months ago. Rather than going (to Washington DC) and making the case for B.C. she sends a bureaucrat, a capable one at that. But if the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan went, why didn’t B.C. show up?”

Horgan will continue his tour of the Interior with stops in Quesnel and Williams Lake later today.

Voters go to the polls May 9.