Christy Clark Prepares to Take Over B.C. Premiership

The Liberal outsider won her party’s nomination at a convention on Saturday.

Clark is such an outsider that she doesn’t even hold a seat in the provincial legislature. Among her first orders of business will be to call a by-election to get herself elected, but a more daunting task is to unite a party that is in shambles over outgoing premier Gordon Campbell’s mishandling of the harmonized sales tax. In order to put the HST matter to rest, Clark intends to hold a referendum on the tax on June 24 and call a provincial election soon thereafter, likely scheduled for the fall. An election is currently set for May 2013, but Clark feels that is simply too long to wait given the major changes that the Liberals have undergone.