Premier Christy Clark enjoyed campaigning during the election so much she鈥檚 just going to keep doing it.
Not just for a Westside-Kelowna seat, but B.C.-wide, judging by Wednesday鈥檚 appearance.
She hopped out of a minivan at an extended-care-home construction project in Saanich and was right back into photo-op mode, chatting up 17 construction workers lined up in front of the TV cameras.
Then she previewed the throne speech for reporters, based on three new themes: 鈥済iving children more opportunities than we had, caring for those who cared for us and leaving B.C. as beautiful as we found it.鈥�
The visual message was unmistakable. She can鈥檛 take a seat in the legislature to talk about jobs, so she鈥檚 out where people are working them.
Recalling her election campaign, which was heavy on the hard hats, she said it was a way of 鈥減aying tribute to the men and women who are building our economy.鈥�
At the Saanich site, a joint effort by the Baptist Housing Society and the 91原创 Island Health Authority, she said: 鈥淚 like being here because it reminds me of all of the benefits of a growing economy.鈥�
(Back at the legislature later, NDP Leader Adrian Dix brought a hard hat to his media appearance as a gag.)
Clark said the jobs plan that her government has been stressing for almost two years is due for an update. Some parts, like cutting the permitting backlog for some resource projects, have been accomplished, so new targets are needed.
And the new Technology Ministry she created needs to be brought into the picture.
The throne speech later was a short and sweet restatement of the themes that contributed to a B.C. Liberal win last month.
Personal income taxes and the carbon tax will be frozen for five years, as promised during the campaign.
That removes one option if the government finds itself running low 鈥� to the relief of taxpayers. But it puts more pressure on the cost-cutting and spending constraints.
Liberals are also committed to a 10-year skills training plan that will require major revamps of the school, post-secondary and apprenticeship programs.
The speech said it is 鈥渆ssential to ensuring that British Columbians are first in line for jobs.鈥�
The huge appetite for skilled trades is one of the major elements in the planning for the liquefied natural gas push. And foreign-worker permits are a touchy subject the government wants to minimize, with an 鈥渦rgent focus鈥� on creating a seamless path from kindergarten to work.
Dix waved off questions about how unhappy he might be to be back doing what he was doing before.
鈥淲e鈥檙e disappointed but we鈥檙e here to do our job.鈥�
And his job Wednesday was to stress how disconnected the throne speech was from the public.
He rapped the Liberals for promising a debt-free future, when B.C.鈥檚 public debt has increased by $750 million just since the election, according to some calculations.
And for all the talk about jobs, the NDP is developing a keen interest in surveys showing that for nine consecutive quarters, more people left B.C. than moved here.
The month-by-month count shows B.C. is down 30,000 private jobs since Clark became premier, Dix said.
Liberals undeniably connected with people during the campaign a lot better than he did.
But he said the rescinded raises for the political aides and the new wheelchair rental levies in one health authority show Clark鈥檚 government is 鈥渇ailing to connect with what鈥檚 really happening out there.鈥�
Just So You Know: Finance Minister Mike de Jong is set to deliver a budget update this afternoon and he wants to do things a little differently.
Instead of a long speech, he plans to deliver the same PowerPoint presentation that is commonly given to reporters in the budget lockup beforehand.
MLAs sitting in the chamber will hear his outline of the budget and see all the charts and graphs used to illustrate the points he makes.
TV viewers will presumably see the same thing.
Regardless of how it鈥檚 delivered, the budget is the same as the one presented in February, with a brief update of economic performance since then.
