Premier-designate Christy Clark juggled the responsibilities of a working mother her first day on the job.
"Work started today," British Columbia's premier mom said Sunday outside Trout Lake Rink where her son, Hamish, was the starting goalie for the Vancouver Thunderbirds in an Atom A4 playoff game. "I was up at 6 o'clock this morning."
Clark narrowly rose to power over rival Kevin Falcon one night earlier on the third ballot of the B.C. Liberal leadership vote, in which 60,000-plus members participated.
Between attending meetings and worship at church, the ex-deputy premier said she had already begun leafing through transition binders to prepare her for the position of premier.
Outside of seeking a seat in legislature through a by-election as soon as possible, Clark said her top priority is to manage the budget well, which leaves the province with a $925-million deficit in 2011/2012.
Also near the top of Clark's to-do list is securing party solidarity.
The ex-radio personality said she had talked to most MLAs in her party and even reached out to disenfranchised politicians Bill Bennett and Blair Lekstrom who defected from the B.C. Liberal caucus to sit in legislature as independents.
"After a leadership campaign, in any province, in any country, the very first thing you need to do is to make sure everyone is standing together," she said.
Clark, however, stopped short of revealing a short-list of potential cabinet
ministers saying she would like to meet with caucus to find out "what differences they want to make."
The soon-to-be premier also said a referendum on the Harmonized Sales Tax would be held June 24.