Having a majority NDP government will allow John Horgan to spend more time in Interior communities.
The premier-elect, who did not visit Prince George or other norther communities during the recent election campaign, says he will be spending more time outside of Victoria.
While the NDP did make some gains in the southern Interior, the northern ridings remained solidly Liberal.
“I would have liked to have seen better results in rural British Columbia and I’ll continue to work hard to work on those relationships to get a better understanding of the challenges of rural British Columbia.”
He said the party had some good candidates in the Interior, pointing to Mackenzie Mayor Joan Atkinson who ran in Prince George-Mackenzie but who polled well behind incumbent Liberal Mike Morris.
“She’s still the mayor of Mackenzie and I’ll still be working with her to represent her issues and her values and the values of north and central B.C. in Victoria,” Horgan said.
He said he believes the NDP made the gains it did because they were talking about issues that matter to British Columbians such as “seniors care, child care, education, transportation.”
He admitted he will have to work harder to have the NDP message resonate in rural British Columbia.
“Having a majority government will allow me to get out of Victoria,” he said. “(We’re) tied in the Legislature for big chunks of the year. I’ll be able to travel, more freely, to other parts of the province and be the spokesperson for the issues that we’re bringing forward that will benefit rural British Columbia.”
He pointed to “serious” issues in the forest sector and he’ll have more “hands on” work there to revitalize the forest industry.
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