Former B.C. premier John Horgan to step down as MLA in March

Former premier John Horgan will completely leave the political arena in March, stepping down as MLA for Langford–Juan de Fuca.

Horgan had not sat in the house since he handed the reins to Premier David Eby on Nov. 18.

He returned to the legislature on Thursday, giving a rousing farewell speech that charted his first election to public office in Grade 1 when he was crowned the King of Hearts to the enormous responsibility of leading the province through a global pandemic.

He joked that the opportunity to be a legislative page passed him by because he wasn’t on a great path in Grade 8, but he found his way to the legislature in 1992 as a staffer.

“I started opening the mail and then I got to be premier,” he told reporters in Victoria after the speech.