By his own admission John Horgan wasn't top of mind with provincial NDP members when he came through Prince George during the party's 2011 leadership race.
"I remember coming to Prince George and Frank Everitt from the Steelworkers saying, 'who is that guy?' and 'why does he sound different from the other bears in the circus?' " Horgan said.
On Thursday Horgan was back in Prince George to make the case once again - this time it's to replace departing leader Adrian Dix. He has a higher profile this time around and is counting on his charisma to be the difference in a leadership race, which has turned for the time being into a battle between the two runners-up from 2011.
"You need a spokesperson who has a little bit of the gab in him - an Irish ancestor - who can tell a story that people will listen to," Horgan said as he sat down with the Citizen prior to meeting with party members at the Civic Centre. "That's my plan and that's what I'm going to do."
Horgan, who represents the Vancouver Island riding of Juan de Fuca, placed third behind Dix and Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth last time out.
Horgan entered the current race on Monday, two weeks after Farnworth became the first candidate for the September vote.
Horgan doesn't expect to make policy issues front and centre during his campaign, rather he portrays the race as between competing visions of style and how to prepare the party for the next general election in 2017.
"The challenge now, more that ever, is we need to select a leader who can resonate not only with the base, not just with people who historically vote NDP, but we need to broaden the tent and bring in people who haven't contemplated voting for the NDP before," he said. "I believe I'm well placed to do that."
The NDP had high hopes heading into the last election campaign and polls indicated they were poised to sweep back into power after three terms on the opposition benches. But Premier Christy Clark and Liberals won the campaign and returned to the legislature with a strengthened majority government.
Although Dix failed to lead the NDP to government, Horgan said he succeeded in uniting a divided party.
"I think the last [leadership] race was about uniting a party that was divided," he said. "Adrian's largest contribution to the NDP was papering over that significant rift that happened when Carole James stepped down."
Horgan said it's up to the NDP's next leader to better control the narrative. Rather than letting the Liberals control the message around the NDP's record, he said the party needs to emphasize the successes it had when it was in office in the 1970s and 1990s.
"The NDP did a lot of good things during the three terms it had in office," he said. "But we don't tell that story, instead we allow the Liberals tell a story of mismanagement when compared with the past decade, the 1990s looks very favourable."
In order to win back power, Horgan said the NDP must do better in the central interior, which the Liberals currently have locked up. To accomplish that, he said the NDP must present itself as a party that is open to continued natural resource development, under the right circumstances.
He said his focus as leader would be to regain the trust of people in resource communities and pointed to his party's support of both the Mount Milligan and Red Chris mines.
Horgan also said he supports both increased exploration and exploitation of unconventional gas reserves in the Peace region while at the same time calling for further study of any environmental concerns around fracking.
"We need to constantly be vigilant about the regulatory regime that we allow these companies to operate under and ensure that we're protecting our water, our land and our air," he said. "But if you can meet that test, you should be able to proceed."
