Premier David Eby is promising what he calls a “reset” in his relationship with B.C.’s business community, including a government hiring freeze to curtail years of enormous public-sector job growth, and a commitment to start looking at internal cost-cutting to bring down the record deficit.

The premier’s address to the B.C. Chamber of Commerce in Vancouver on Tuesday marked a U-turn in political tone since BC New Democrats almost lost the October provincial election to the upstart Conservatives.

“I want you to hear me say this, it’s important you know that I know this is true — in order for British Columbia to succeed, we need British Columbia’s businesses to succeed,” Eby told the audience.

“I’ll paraphrase our finance minister, but you can’t pour from an empty cup. You can’t deliver high-quality services that people need without a way to pay for those services. And that payment is generated through the prosperity and wealth generation from our province, through the economy.”

The NDP has had a rocky relationship with business groups over seven years, piling on extra costs in the form of tax increases, new employee medical premiums and mandatory paid sick days for employees.

Small business confidence is now at record lows, businesses are reeling under rising vandalism and rent, economists warn of a cooling provincial economy and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is promising tariffs that could devastate entire sectors.

Eby told the audience that the challenges of Trump, especially, require him to take a different........

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