Clark opponents already on the attack

Just hours after Christy Clark was named B.C.'s premier-designate, her opponents went on the attack.

"Well, if the past is any indication, she certainly polarized situations. She was confrontational," said B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair, who dealt with the former cabinet minister when she was in office.

"So at the end of the day, she is going to have to change the way she operates to be the premier. She said she was going to change tonight. The question is, is she?"

The Opposition NDP, in the midst of its own leadership race with a new leader for that party due to be chosen April 17, moved to brand Clark as "more of the same," despite her efforts during the campaign to distance herself from the current government.

"She's a lifelong Liberal insider, she's an insider forever. She was the deputy premier to Gordon Campbell," NDP leadership candidate Adrian Dix said.

Leadership candidate Mike Farnworth echoed that characterization.

"She tries to position herself as an outsider, but when I hear her and look at her, I say it's more like déjà vu," he said.

'Draconian cuts'

Both Farnworth and Dix also called Clark's political background into question.

"I mean, she talks about putting families first yet when she was Minister of Children and Families, she presided over some of the most draconian cuts that occurred during the Gordon Campbell era," Farnworth said.

Dix said Clark's record does not bode well for the future of Clark's leadership.

"I don't think it's good news for British Columbians. Her record as a cabinet minister was maybe, of any party's … maybe the worst of 25 years," Dix said.

"Her performance was terrible, she closed schools, the system deteriorated under her watch and then she became Minister of Children and Families and left that ministry, which involves at-risk kids, in chaos — and then she quit. So I don't think her record is a good record."

In a written statement, interim NDP leader Dawn Black called on Clark to take immediate action to address B.C.'s unemployment and child poverty rates.

"Today I call on Ms. Clark to begin that work by immediately calling MLAs back to the legislature to take action on behalf of British Columbians," the statement read.

"Specifically, she needs to table legislation moving up the HST referendum… and table a new budget that invests in people, creates jobs and helps B.C. families make ends meet."