New Brunswick’s first female premier seeking to build province with compassion

FREDERICTON — Susan Holt was puzzled when an envelope with an orange U.S. stamp depicting an African daisy arrived in her mail last month. It was postmarked New York.

The newly elected New Brunswick premier opened it to find a single folded sheet of paper, with a tissue between the folds to protect the blue-inked signature of Hillary Clinton.

Holt recounted in an interview this week that she was so thrilled she woke up her husband to show him.

“Congratulations on your historic election to serve as the first female Premier of New Brunswick,” read the letter from the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. “As you prepare to step into this role, please know that I am cheering you on for great success. With best wishes and warm regards to you and your family, I am sincerely yours, Hillary Clinton.”

Holt’s Liberals swept into power Oct. 21, winning 31 of 49 seats. She is joined by 16 other women in the legislature — the most ever elected in the province. In all, 10 Liberals, six Progressive Conservatives and one Green are women. Since her election, Holt said, she’s received “so many” messages from women and girls across the country — and elsewhere in the world — saying her achievement has helped inspire them.

“People have come up to me to express the kind of hope that I’ve generated for them,” she said.

Holt is one of the few Canadian women who have managed the climb to the top of the political ladder.

Although Canada had a female prime minister, Kim Campbell, from June to November 1993, much like its southern neighbour, it has elected few women to top roles. There have been a total of 15 female premiers of provinces or territories, and the only other woman currently leading a province is Alberta’s Danielle Smith. Canada is behind most countries including the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Germany, and most recently Mexico that have elected female heads of government.

Holt said perhaps the United States and Canada lag behind others societies that have been built on more matriarchal cultures. Our culture, she said, “has glorified a certain style of leadership that is more typically masculine, that strong ‘lead from the front and follow me,’ kind of an energy that got baked into our subconscious over generations. It’s taking some time to unpack and realize that we need more empathetic leadership.”

Erin Tolley, Canada Research Chair in gender, race, and inclusive politics at Carleton University, said Canada is not a leader in terms of the percentage of women in legislatures. “Sometimes Canadians’ impressions of their own openness and disposition towards equality, their perception of themselves doesn’t quite match the record,” she said.

She attributes the lack of women in political leadership to gender inequality, lack of supports, misogyny, sexual harassment and hostility. She said research shows that female leaders tend to bring a more collaborative, bipartisan approach to politics with a focus on issues related to women and children, health and education. They typically interrupt people less, but they’re interrupted more, she added.

Holt knows there will be decisions she makes that will anger and frustrate people, and that some of the online vitriol experienced by female politicians will be directed her way. She said that when she does encounter abusive language online, she reminds herself that it’s not personal, and the person is venting because of something that has happened in their life.

Tolley said Holt’s seemingly Zen-like approach to hateful messages is not surprising. “There’s definitely a perspective among women holding office that they don’t want to complain about that type of treatment because complaining about it can also elicit backlash,” she said.

Soon after Holt was sworn in, she reversed a nearly 40-year-old rule that had limited surgical abortion availability across the province and allowed the procedures to be fully funded by medicare. Her government is also working on updating the province’s policy on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools to reverse controversial changes made by the previous Progressive Conservative government.

“We’ll get it sorted, finalized and done before the end of this calendar year is my hope,” she said.

Blaine Higgs, the former Progressive Conservative premier, put New Brunswick centre stage through changes in social policies such as gender identity in schools, abortion and a proposal to force people with drug addictions into treatment programs.

Holt said she wants to see New Brunswick in the spotlight for being a compassionate province that “creatively” uses technology, has high-quality health care and a good education system. “It’s going to turn heads and catch the eyes of the national media and beyond,” she predicted.

Her brand of leadership, she said, is shaped by her experiences that come from having lived in Australia and India, being a rugby player and a volunteer. “I have an appreciation for different cultures, different ways of life, how people live in different places around the world, and an understanding of that, and then the commonality of the human condition,” she said.

And she said she has drawn inspiration from the women in her life and all those who came before her in politics, including Clinton, whose letter is now being framed so it can hang in the premier’s office.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 12, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press