New Brunswick’s new premier says many residents are feeling cynical and frustrated with politics and government.
Susan Holt said that is why transparency has been one of her key focuses since coming into office in November.
In a year-end interview with our newsroom, Holt said she knows that government needs to rebuild trust with the people.
“We have to change our behavior, and that includes how we communicate to New Brunswickers and how open and transparent and vulnerable we’re going to be with people,” she said.
Since being elected, Holt has posted weekly videos on social media talking about what she and her caucus are up to.
It is something the Liberal premier told our newsroom that she continues to receive a lot of positive feedback about.
“You will be surprised how many people mention them as giving them insight into how government works or how we spend our time in ways that they didn’t know,” said Holt.
“I want to make sure that we continue to open the doors up and give people a behind-the-scenes sense of this is how it really works. This is what the meeting rooms look like and this is what a day looks like, and these are the types of conversations that we’re having.”
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Holt is also trying to communicate individually with as many people as possible but admits that has been one of the challenging aspects of her job.
She has received many requests for correspondence and meetings since her party won the provincial election back just over two months ago.
“I’ve found it challenging knowing that there are people who want to be heard, who want to sit down and chat, and I don’t have the capacity to meet with or to personally write back to every single person who has reached out,” said Holt.
“There’s such a huge volume of requests for correspondence and meetings that we’re trying to get through it. But if I booked every single one of the meetings that I’ve been asked for, that would take me straight through next year.”
