Schmoozing new premier

Photo: The Canadian Press

John Horgan has been British Columbia's premier for less than a day and already the requests are flooding in, as various groups compete to get their respective wish lists into the new government.

Glen Hansman, head of the B.C. Teachers' Federation, offered his congratulations to the new government Wednesday as he highlighted a shortfall in promised funding needed to hire teachers and organize classes mere weeks before the academic year is scheduled to start.

"We're going to have to be patient. Miracles aren't going to happen overnight," Hansman said. "But I'm hopeful that over the summer the incoming government will be able to provide a bit more money to school districts."

Various environmental groups applauded the government's commitment to investing in clean economic growth, including Clean Energy Canada, GreenPAC, Ancient Forest Alliance and the Pembina Institute.

Horgan's government also received greetings from the Business Council of B.C. and three advocacy groups for the province's mining industry.

"We look forward to working with the new government to progress (on) key issues, such as access to land, capital and public geoscience to enable mineral explorers and developers to continue conducting their important work," said Edie Thome, head of the Association for Mineral Exploration.