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VICTORIA — When NDP leader John Horgan was asked recently what surprised him most about his first few months as premier, the answer was the one he’s been wearing on his sleeve.

“How much I’m enjoying it,” Horgan replied. Which was not to say the job is lacking in challenges.

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“Certainly, I anticipated the workload, I anticipated the lack of anonymity, I anticipated a whole bunch of things,” he told reporters at the wrap-up of the new government’s first session of the legislature.

“But I didn’t anticipate how much I would enjoy engaging with people and the response I’m getting from the public, that people are genuinely happy that there is a new group of people in power.”

The elevation of a younger generation of British Columbians to government is one of Horgan’s proud achievements as leader.

“We’ve lowered the average age of members of the legislature since May and that’s not to diss those grey beards like myself” — he’s 58 — “or those in the media who have been here even longer than I have” — I’m 65 — “but it is also to see new faces and new approaches to our politics.”