Carole James at peace with resignation

After a long Christmas holiday, skiing with her husband in Burns Lake and sitting on a beach in Mexico, outgoing B.C. NDP leader Carole James says she has returned with no regrets about resigning from her party’s top job.

"What’s been reassuring is that I haven’t had a second that, given the circumstances I had, I didn’t make the right decision – not one second," James said Thursday in her first interview since returning.

"I felt clear in making my decision and that’s just been reinforced with the distance from it."

James is beginning her transition from Opposition leader to backbench Victoria-Beacon Hill MLA, after a messy coup by a minority of her caucus forced her to quit on Dec. 7.

She has refused to wade into the ongoing race for her job. She will not endorse a candidate (despite what she said has been pressure to do so), and will only go so far as to say she is disappointed there are not any women running for leader.

James said she plans to attend a caucus meeting next Wednesday to cast her vote for the party’s interim leader.

It’s likely to be an awkward event, as MLAs on both sides of the bitter dispute over James’s leadership meet face-to-face for the first time in almost two months.

"People should not come into caucus next week expecting that we’re all going to hold hands and all like each other and pretend nothing’s happened," said James.

"Something did happen, and that’s fine. We’ve got to move past that now and focus, as I’ve said all along during those two months, on the people who need us in this province."

None of the 13 dissident MLAs who publicly called for her removal has attempted to make amends, James said.

Saanich South MLA Lana Popham did make an odd appearance at a gathering soon after James resigned.

"She showed up at our event and said, ‘I don’t know what to say,’ and then left," James said, shrugging her shoulders.

Apologies and explanations are not necessary, James said.

She maintains, as she said the day after she resigned, that she holds no bitterness toward those who opposed her.

"You don’t have to like each other. This isn’t high school," she said. "We just have to learn to work together."

James said she’d prefer everyone move on and focus on unifying the party for next month’s legislative session.

But, for the first time in seven years, she will not have a front-line role in that political fight.

James said it would be inappropriate for a former leader to take an Opposition critic portfolio.

Instead, she will focus entirely on Victoria constituency work.

The support from locals has been "overwhelming," she said, from the people who continue to stop her at the grocery store to ask if she’s OK, to a group of friends planning a "teaching Carole to have a life again" party next month.

"There’s lots of work to do in this community, there are lots of people who need someone to advocate on their behalf and I have a chance to do that," said James, who grew up in James Bay.

"That will be my job. The other stuff is done now . . . enough time has been wasted."

rfshaw@timescolonist.com