Premier Gordon Campbell gave a speech to the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in Whistler focused on remembering the glory and spirit of last February's Winter Olympics, that critics said offered little new.

Campbell opened with ten minutes of anecdotes about the Olympics and closed by holding up an gold medal. Many B.C. people and industries contributed to it, he said. “This is yours. You own this. You earned this. You did this.”

Along the way he made several throne-speech style announcements. He pledged to press ahead with pushing to harmonize federal and provincial environmental assessment processes, despite a resolution passed by the UBCM opposed to the policy.

He voiced support for Taseko's Prosperity gold mine project, which has already passed a provincial environmental assessment, but awaits a federal decision. The mine, which would destroy Fish Lake, is strongly opposed by the local Tsilhqot’in National Government. *

“Our province was built on mining,” Campbell said. “You don't have gold medals if you don't have mining.”

He promised to restore and enhance interpretive programs, which were cut soon after Campbell's 2001 election, in B.C. Parks.

“This struck me as a farewell speech to the UBCM,” said NDP house leader Mike Farnworth. “This was a speech that was looking back and that this was a premier who's not planning on addressing the UBCM next year.”

There was nothing concrete in the speech, he said. “He could have done something about the minimum wage . . . He could have talked about economic stability by moving the referendum date up significantly. Instead we heard nothing about that.”

People did feel proud of the province during the election, he added, but right now they don't have a government they can feel proud of.

Campbell, by the way, joked during his speech that he misses the Olympic red mittens: when they were wearing them he couldn't tell if they were giving him the finger.

* Paragraph clarified at 10:52 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2010.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.