"The government has trapped itself between its own commitment to fiscal austerity, which is exactly the wrong thing, and its commitment to resource extraction," Lee said.

While the infrastructure spending on rail and road corridors to ports in Delta and Prince Rupert could be characterized as exactly the sort of stimulus spending that economists at the CCPA support, Lee said it's doubtful the economic benefits of the projects will outweigh their environmental costs.

"We're trapped in this resource extraction mentality," he said. Spending on the ports is aimed at expanding exports from the province, which Lee said he worries will mean that much more coal, potash, and gas gets shipped out to Asian markets.

"It shows no vision whatsoever for the economy that we need in the 21st century," he said. "It's like we've rolled back the clock 100 years."

Fraser Institute: plan causes concerns

Niels Veldhuis, a senior economist at the Fraser Institute, said that while he likes Clark's basic approach, the lack of detail is troubling.

"The overall aim of the premier is the right one," he said. "I'm pleased there were no grand schemes."

Investors look for prudent government, a welcoming regulatory environment and a tax system that doesn't penalize them, he said. Former premier Gordon Campbell did a good job creating just such an environment, and thankfully Clark this week committed to continuing that legacy, he said.

A major difference, however, is that the Clark government's plan highlights eight sectors of the economy, something Veldhuis said he finds worrisome.

"There's very little detail on what they're actually going to do," he said. With transportation, for instance, aside from a couple small projects it's unclear what the vision may be, he said. "If you're actually starting to fund projects, that's a problem."

At that level, the government starts picking winners and losers, something it is ill-placed to do, he added. "They have no idea if indeed those are going to be the industries of the future," he said. "Industry-focused initiatives are not the way to create an overall economic environment."

After four days of announcements and the unveiling of the jobs plan, Veldhuis seemed underwhelmed with what he'd seen. "It has almost no detail. Does that equate to a major announcement? It's a nice framework piece, but I leave it at that."

He said he would be watching for more details to come. "If this is where it ends... this plan here is not going to make B.C. the job-creating engine they want it to be."

He also suggested the premier should concentrate more on developing appropriate policies than in fashioning herself as the province's number one salesperson. "The role of government is to make sure the policies are right and not to be the biggest cheerleader it can be," he said.

Cheerleading won't build province

B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair said the 200,000 unemployed people in the province need the premier to do more than be a salesperson. "Business is perfectly willing and able to sell themselves," he said. "We don't need to sell British Columbia, we need to build it."

Trying to sell more resources, such as raw logs, to China is not going to build the province, he said. "That's not selling B.C., that's selling us out."

With official unemployment around eight per cent and shaky looking economic times ahead, people in the province need real help, he said. "There was not one job created today," he said.

Even the small number of jobs previously announced, such as for the Prince Rupert port expansion, won't necessarily go to British Columbians, he said. At the same time, the Crown corporation BC Hydro is laying people off. Sinclair's message to Clark: "Follow through and stop firing people."

Sinclair added that the province under Campbell already spent a decade cutting regulations in the name of attracting business. "At the end of the day it didn't work," he said. Over that time, the province lost 28,000 manufacturing jobs and 15,000 in the resource sector, he said. "We want to sell our products, not our jobs."

Overall the BC Fed gave Clark's plan a failing grade, Sinclair said, adding that if she were a Grade 9 student, she would have to do the year over.

As far as he was concerned, however, it will not be necessary for Clark to take another try in the premier's job.

[See more Tyee political coverage.]