Christy Clark is officially sworn in by Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon as Premier of British Columbia at Government House in Victoria on June 10, 2013.Chad Hipolito/The Globe and Mail
Politics Insider delivers premium analysis and access to Canada's policymakers and politicians. Visit the Politics Insider homepage for insight available only to subscribers.
With the swearing-in of her cabinet this week, Christy Clark officially ended her expected destiny as a political footnote.
Against the odds, Ms. Clark led her B.C. Liberals to a fourth term in government last month.
Now the premier, rejuvenated as a political force on either side of the Rockies, has assembled a 19-member cabinet team mingling veterans who served under her predecessor Gordon Campbell as well as rookie MLAs from the worlds of business, municipal politics and even policing whom she recruited.
Most of them are not known outside of B.C. though that might change in the years ahead. Former transportation minister Mary Polak, for example, has replaced former environment minister Terry Lake as the face of the Northern Gateway file. (Mr. Lake is the new health minister.)
But the mere process of putting out a team she led to a new mandate through an election she was expected to lose confirms Ms. Clark as a political fact both in B.C. and on the national stage.
Last month's provincial election made it official that Ms. Clark, barring unforeseen events, would be around for four years.
Now, however, she has deployed the executive-council troops who will enact her agenda on issues ranging from the Northern Gateway pipeline and B.C.'s five conditions for supporting heavy oil projects, to B.C.'s views on health care, among other issues.
"People have to take Christy Clark seriously. She has established herself as a force to be reckoned with. She's no longer in the shadow of Gordon Campbell," says Max Cameron, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia.
Mr. Campbell, a three-term premier who recruited Ms. Clark into provincial politics, cast a long shadow for managing the centre-right mix of interests that comprises the B.C. Liberals. He quit over controversies associated with bringing in a harmonized sales tax. Ms. Clark to succeeded him in 2011.
"She is in a position to and has begun to remake the government in accordance with her own priorities. She has a clear mandate for those priorities. She brings to the table the ability to speak from the perspective of someone who has gone through an intense battle and come out victorious."
Ahead of last month's provincial election, many expected Ms. Clark would not be long on either the provincial or national stage.
But the former deputy premier and radio talk-show host turned things around with an economy and jobs-focused campaign meshed with a sunny personality. The Liberals have 49 of 85 seats in the B.C. legislature compared to 34 for the B.C. NDP. There's one independent and a Green Party member.
Like many B.C. observers, Mr. Cameron is eating crow. "There was a tendency – and I was very part of this – to dismiss her as a lightweight in her meetings with other premiers. She seemed to not be able to get in tune with other premiers on a range of issues."
That was then. "Now that changes. When Christy Clark speaks, people have to listen," he says.
That listening will begin at the Western Premiers Conference later this month and continue until at least 2017 – maybe longer.
What will be heard is a renewed commitment to B.C.'s five conditions for developing heavy oil pipelines – the province has already said it won't support the Gateway project, as now planned, that's key to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's drive to ship Canadian energy to Asia.
In a pre-election editorial board meeting with The Globe, Ms. Clark said her province didn't need to carry Alberta oil to market to be an economic force within the country. Ms. Clark is intent on developing the province's liquefied natural gas sector to create thousands of jobs and eliminate the province's debt – a job given the member of cabinet with the new title Minister of Natural Gas Development.
More sharply, Ms. Clark memorably conceded her Gateway stand made her unpopular in meetings with other premiers. "Tough luck. I'm not sitting around the premiers' table to be popular with my colleagues."
That said, Mr. Cameron noted it isn't all bad news.
"She is extraordinarily resilient, someone who is buoyant, upbeat, gregarious, friendly, charming and positive," he said.
Her cabinet got to work Monday afternoon after being sworn in.
Ian Bailey is a reporter in The Globe's Vancouver bureau.