B.C. Premier Christy Clark welcomed Adrian Dix as her official opposition Monday, saying the newly elected NDP leader gives voters a clear choice of who they want to support.
"There is a now a very clear difference between what we're about, which is change and looking forward, and what they're about, which is about looking backward," Clark told reporters.
Dix is still basking in the glory of last night's victory, where he narrowly beat leading challenger Mike Farnworth with just 52 per cent of the votes in the NDP leadership convention.
As leader, the former hard-left MLA says he'll shift his party further to the left of the political spectrum.
Clark ruled out a snap election, saying people need to vote first on the harmonized sales tax this summer. That said, she didn't deny that British Columbians could go to the polls in September.
About to find himself in a political war, Dix is already using fighting words about his opponent.
"We have a government that is out of gas, out of ideas and you've seen that since Christy Clark took over," he said Monday.
Dix won the race based on a sophisticated election machine and strong ties to the labour movement, including the BC Federation of Labour.
"I think we have a great leader to go out and lead that fight and show British Columbians that we don't have to keep doing the same things," said BC Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair.
His first of many priorities is to unite his embattled party and prepare it for an election.
Mario Canseco of Angus Reid Strategies says it's going to be a hard-fought battle between Dix and Clark.
"You have two politicians who do not back away from a fight, who are very scrappy and we might be heading into one of the most emotional debates in a long time in the way they are connecting," Canseco said.
While the election will be a battle between two strong leaders, Dix will also be fighting history.
In the last 80 years, B.C. has had 22 elections but the NDP has only won three times.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty
