Sitting on the Liberal campaign bus with days to go before New Brunswick’s provincial election, Premier Brian Gallant is relaxed and at ease.
Despite the apparently tightening race with the Progressive Conservatives, the 36-year-old career politician seems perennially confident and outgoing – though he’d describe himself as an “outgoing introverted” since reading Susan Cain’s “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.”
“It’s a very interesting book about extroverts and introverts,” Gallant says during a brief lull between campaign stops.
“It helped me understand the make-up of my team and what people need in terms of encouragement and support and space and all that.”
In a wide-ranging interview, the youngest premier in Canada – once crowned Mr. New Brunswick at a provincial pageant and the winner of a Backstreet Boys impersonation contest – opens up about his childhood and upbringing, meeting the woman of his dreams and his vision for New Brunswick.
WATCH: One-on-one with N.B. Liberal Leader Brian Gallant
He was born in Shediac Bridge, about 30 minutes northeast of Moncton, to an Acadian father and a mother who was a child of Dutch immigrants that fled Europe after the Second World War.
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“My grandparents were hiding Jewish families during the war in their home in Holland,” Gallant says. “My grandfather got sent to concentration camps twice and escaped by jumping out of a moving train.”
His grandparents moved to New Brunswick in 1952 but couldn’t speak a word of French or English and had “virtually no money in their pockets,” he says. A priest in Minto, a small community east of Fredericton, took them in and helped them get started.
As a young child, Gallant says he moved several times before the age of 11 as his parents searched for work in grocery and convenience stores and fast food restaurants. He lived in communities including Beresford, Nigadoo and Bouctouche before moving back in with his grandparents in Shediac Bridge.
The bilingual Liberal leader started in the anglophone school system until switching to a francophone school in Grade 5, where he got an inadvertent start in politics.
“Nobody wanted to be vice-president of the class at the beginning of the year,” Gallant says. “Then somebody said, ‘If Brian Mulroney can be the prime minister of Canada, why don’t we make Brian Gallant the vice-president of our class.”‘
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In a nod to the narrowing race to become premier, he adds: “It was uncontested, which is a lot less work.”
The haphazard nomination sparked a lifelong passion for civic engagement.
Gallant eventually became school president in Grade 12, continued in student politics at the Universite de Moncton and then, at the age of 24, ran against Tory then-premier Bernard Lord in Moncton East in 2006.
“I was around 15 or 16 when I realized I really enjoyed the opportunity to make decisions that would impact the lives of my community members,” he says. “I liked the idea that you work with people to figure out their challenges, and politics seemed like the best vehicle to make that sort of difference for a community.”
The energetic 6-foot-2 athlete also played a smorgasbord of sports – including tennis, badminton, soccer, volleyball and hockey.
The former No. 1 provincially ranked tennis player even managed to pay his way through university by launching a summer sports camp and giving tennis lessons.
Gallant now squeezes in runs and goes to the gym to stay active.
“I try to work out almost every single day, it gives me more energy and allows me to disconnect,” he says. “I probably won’t play tennis again until I have the time to hit the courts and practice twice a week and I’m good enough to beat my older brother.”
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His playlists growing up included a mix of Nirvana, Blink-182 and Snoop Dogg: “There wasn’t a lot of loyalty to one type of music.”
After years as New Brunswick’s most eligible bachelor, Gallant married Karine Lavoie last October in St. Andrews.
“The big spender that I am, we went to Boston Pizza for our first date,” Gallant jokes.
Gallant says the couple enjoys their down time, recently watching “Oceans 8” at the drive-in in Shediac, and binge-watching “New Girl” on Netflix.
The family also includes Blaze, a 90 lb black lab adopted from the SPCA. Gallant suggests all political leaders should have a dog, for two reasons.
On the tough days, he says it’s good to come home to the unconditional love of a dog.
And when “you’re sort of on a high” after the amazing moments, he says having to walk and pick up after a dog keeps you grounded and humble.
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