​N.B is on the Map Again!

Susan Holt’s Liberal victory in Monday’s election puts New Brunswick on the national map in a way not seen since Frank McKenna’s 58-0 sweep of the province in the 1987 election, 37 years ago. Holt will be the first female Premier in the history of the province, and the number of women, at 17, elected to the legislature is the largest ever.
 
Both the Holt and McKenna victories were spectacular in their own way, appealing to newness and freshness for an electorate weary of an unpopular incumbent Premier. Both ran high energy campaigns based on blanket touring of every corner of the province.
 
Ms. Holt’s campaign may have been even more spectacular from a homegrown policy point of view because she concentrated overwhelmingly on primary health care, promising to introduce 30+ collaborative care centres staffed with professionals from doctors, to nurse practitioners, nurses and mental health therapists, thereby reducing pressure on hospital emergency rooms.

Mr. McKenna had argued in his day that the best form of social policy is a job. He instituted his famous 1-800-McKenna business line for potential investors, which he often answered himself. He also relied heavily on the province’s bilingual capability to locate call centres for large national firms in New Brunswick.

In his first campaign, McKenna was competing against Richard Hatfield, a master politician who had been in power for 17 years but faced increasing public disapproval for his lifestyle choices.
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Holt faced Blaine Higgs, with six years in power, and who had provoked a visceral opposition from many members of the public and his own colleagues in caucus and cabinet with his “my way or the highway” approach to governing. Holt provided a complete contrast with the Higgs leadership style, setting out a team approach, with “listening” and “consultation” the watchwords for her campaign. At no time did she denounce Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who to this day is running poorly in the opinion polls, but she did distance herself from several of the Trudeau policies, notably the famous federal tax on carbon.
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Of course, Holt’s victory drew national attention because of the gender issue, but also because of the determination and energy she showed in her campaign.  Alberta’s Danielle Smith is the other female Premier in the country, but the style of these two leaders is very different. Holt has a warm and effusive personality, but is a leader who can be tough, as well, witness her promise to reopen research into the province’s Mystery Neurological Disease, which the Higgs government had tried to ignore.

The election night turnout at Holt’s victory celebration showed a very large number of women, as well as girls from the “Swifties Generation”. Her strongest hug was for Aldea Landry, the former deputy Premier in the McKenna government, who was with her from the beginning, even before Holt won her party’s leadership.

In her passionate election night address, which Holt delivered without a podium and without a note, she also mentioned other pioneering women in New Brunswick politics including Landry, former provincial Liberal Leader Shirley Dysart and Brenda Robertson, the powerful Health Minister in the Conservative government of Richard Hatfield.

The road to success in politics for women is not easy in today’s social media-dominated world.  A case in point is the vitriol hurled at Kamala Harris by former president Donald Trump in the current U.S. presidential campaign.

A Canadian example of hardship for women politicians, was that experienced by former Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, a strong advocate in the fight against climate change. Among other hostile acts against her, a man screamed obscenities at the front door of McKenna’s home, and her office was painted with vulgar slogans. Citing her need to spend more time with her children, McKenna announced in 2021 she would not seek re-election and has successfully continued her fight against climate change outside of government.

In a poignant moment near the end of the celebration of her election victory, Holt bent over her three daughters and urged people to be kind to them going forward.

On the campaign trail the Premier elect has shown herself to be strong and resolute against any potential abusive behavior as she prepares to occupy the New Brunswick Premier’s chair.