Premier Susan Holt has made waves as the first female premier of New Brunswick.
In a year-end interview with Global News, Holt discussed what her style of leadership could bring to the table, and what she envisions for the province.
“I have high hopes for this province and love for this province,” she said.
She said it has been an honour and privilege to become premier, after her October election win. Her historic victory also caught the attention of former American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — who almost made history herself south of the border.
“It was a bit of a surprise. I came home late one night from an amazing Innovate Awards night in Moncton. And sitting on my island was a small envelope that said ‘Honourable Premier-Designate Susan Holt,'” she recalled.
“So I open it up and I pull out this little piece of paper. As I open it, a little piece of tissue paper flutters out. And the first thing I see is Hillary’s signature, and then it was a lovely note congratulating me on my historic win as the first female premier of New Brunswick and letting me know that she’s cheering me on for great success and wishes my family all the best.”
Get daily National news
Holt said it was a surreal moment to receive a note from “a woman whose career I followed and somebody whose loss I felt pretty, pretty intensely.”
She said she believes her style of leadership will bring something new to New Brunswick.
“I worked in male-dominated environments, and so the type of skills that I brought forward were built to fit into that kind of environment,” she said, adding what the province needs now is a “more service-oriented, empathetic leadership model.”
–with a file from Global News’ Rebecca Lau
For more on this interview, watch the video above.
Comments