Michelle Mungall was in a Victoria pub when she learned the news that John Horgan will be the new premier of British Columbia. She was scrolling through Twitter and watching live news coverage alongside fellow MLA Katrine Conroy when the announcement came.
“The pub just erupted, I leapt out of my chair and I couldn’t stop jumping up and down with tears of joy,” Mungall told the Star today.
“It was pure elation. This is a huge step forward for British Columbians. We’re going to clean up our government and make sure it works for people. And we’re going to put it to work for the people. I’m chomping at the bit to get started.”
The first thing she did following the news: call her husband. Then she threw her arm around Conroy and went Facebook Live to address her constituents. After spending her entire career in opposition, she’s now feeling empowered to make real change.
“Now we can do a poverty reduction plan, we can have stronger environmental policies and we can take real action on the environment and developing our transit infrastructure. We can properly invest in public education and give kids the education they deserve.”
She’s also invested in seeing changes to health care, especially in the realm of mental health and seniors care.
“After hearing stories of the BC Liberals’ neglect for so long, I can’t tell you how exciting it is now that we can get in there and do something about it.”
Another huge priority: reconciliation. Mungall has been advocating to protect Jumbo for years, and thinks the NDP’s new position of power will help them to “Keep Jumbo Wild.”
“On the eve of Canada’s 150th birthday, it’s wonderful to know we can get started with reconciliation in our region and work with the Ktunaxa to protect Qat’muk.”
She said voters have lots of questions, such as what the cabinet will look, but those concerns won’t be settled for a few weeks. In the meantime, her party is feeling pretty pleased with its victory.
“Right now,” she said, “we just got the keys.”