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Carole James, Leader of the B.C. New Democrats, is promising a renewed effort to reach out to the province's business community as well as a concerted discussion about the economy as her party regroups after its defeat in the May provincial election.

Although the Opposition Leader mentioned the new direction in a long-awaited speech to more than 600 delegates attending the party's biennial convention, she hammered it home as a new operating principle in remarks to reporters after the speech.

Some observers drew a sharp distinction between the speech and the scrum as if she was speaking to different audiences.

"If anyone thought New Democrats were not going to talk about the economy, they would be mistaken after this speech," she told reporters.

"We are going to put a greater emphasis on the economy. We are going to talk about how a new modern economy needs to make sure it addresses the issues in communities.

"That's a much greater emphasis than you have seen previously by New Democrats."

She said she is expecting opposition from her fellow New Democrats over a serious dialogue with business. "I expect there will be some New Democrats, who won't agree with the direction. This is the direction we're going."

In her speech, she promised to welcome the business community into a dialogue with the opposition and said she plans to go on a listening tour to speak with business leaders about ways to "combine a forward-looking business climate with a more equitable society.

"That kind of openness will make our journey to a sustainable, new modern economy that much faster."

Ms James added that she wants to "move beyond the conflicts that hold us back."

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, responded to Ms. James' remarks by noting that New Democrats should certainly talk to the business community but never forget they will never sway business to support them.

"The question is whether or not we're living the illusion that somehow we can make business like us. Therefore they will support us over the party they have," he said in an interview.

He said Ms. James should reach out to small businesspeople with an affinity for NDP values, and also pointedly urged her to travel to locations in Northern Europe where she might learn about new relationships with government.

"What I've said to Carole and I'll say again is, just don't go talk to business. Go other places where business have a different relationship. Go to Northern Europe and sit and say to business, `OK. So you pay a lot of taxes here and you make a lot of money. How does that work?' "

Ms. James focused more intently on education, child-care and health-care access in her well-received speech in which she also reminded delegates of NDP success in the recently-concluded sitting of the legislature hammering the Liberals over such issues as the HST.

The NDP has accused the Liberals of misleading voters before the May vote. "Do you remember the Liberals promising to close emergency rooms and cut surgeries? Promising to devastate the arts? Promising to cut funding to the most vulnerable children? But that's exactly what they did."

The session ended with her party up to 14 points ahead of the Liberals in public-opinion polls.

"This morning, I have placed education at the top of my agenda to build a sustainable new modern economy," Ms. James said, underlining education reform as riding atop her agenda "to build a sustainable, new modern economy.

"The world is an unpredictable place. But it's a time tested covenant that advancing knowledge, that building our human capital can propel us towards a more successful, stable economy."

Without providing details, she promised a "quality public education system," investments in apprenticeship and training opportunities, and better access to post-secondary education.

She is also promising to put together a plan to eliminate child poverty, with pieces of the strategy revealed over the next year.

Earlier this fall, Ms. James told the Union of British Columbia Municipalities about a proposal to change the provincial carbon tax program and cancel planned corporate tax cuts. Following her speech, she said her party does not have a broad tax policy to discuss.

"We're going to look at how we grow our revenue. I think there are opportunities to actually increase revenues in British Columbia. We're going to have to look at everything over the next while."

The former school trustee and president of the B.C. School Trustee Association, elected party leader in 2005, did not touch in her speech on what, tactically, might have gone wrong for the party in the May election campaign, which ended with the Liberals winning a third term.

Ms. James has said she will lead the NDP into the 2013 election - her third as NDP party leader.

Attorney-General Mike de Jong, government house leader, showed up at the downtown hotel where the meeting is being held to offer an immediate Liberal response to Ms. James' speech.

He said she failed to ground her ambitions in tangible proposals.

"If you really want to be taken seriously as a leader, you have got to lay out something for people to think about, talk about and get their minds around, and we saw nothing of that from her today," he said, referring to the speech.

The three-day convention concludes on Sunday with business that includes the election of a party president. Former NDP cabinet minister Moe Sihota is running for the position.

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