Q& a with PREMIER-DESIGNATE BRIAN GALLANT

6 oct 2014 – Times & Transcript Q& A with PREMIER-DESIGNATE BRIAN GALLANT Brent mazerolle’s On Tuesday, Shediac Bridge’s Brian Alexander Gallant will be sworn in as the 33rd premier of New Brunswick. It’s the climactic end to years of climbing through the political ranks for Gallant, a McGill and Université de Moncton educated lawyer who first ran for the legislature in 2006 while still a student. It’s of course the beginning of a much bigger journey for both Gallant and the province he will lead.The recent election campaign was spirited,occasionally nasty and ultimately a bit bizarre because of an election-night failure of the province’s vote tabulation system. By the time the premier-designate dropped by the Times & Transcript last week for a post-election chat, it seemed likely a million words had already been written about the election and its every issue,from the economy and education to abortion and shale gas exploration. The goal, then, was for the premier-designate and Times & Transcript reporter Brent Mazerolle to not debate the election and its issues all over again. Tuesday will mark the beginning of another four years of that. Instead, Gallant’s and Mazerolle’s conversation was a pause from that to talk more globally about what the results of Sept.22,belated as they were, mean for Brian Gallant and for the rest of the people of New Brunswick. An abridged transcript of the conversation appears below: Brent Mazerolle: First off, let me get my backup tape recorder turned on for our conversation. My usual recorder has been acting up and is even less reliable than Elections New Brunswick’s tabulating machines. Brian Gallant: (Shaking his head and laughing). BM: Sorry. Is it too soon? Don’t worry, though, no matter how they count it, I think everyone is now pretty confident you won, so congratulations. BG: Thank you. BM: Nevertheless,the way it all worked out on election night,you’re probably the first elected premier in a generation who didn’t get his photograph on the front page of the Times & Transcript the next morning. Because your victory speech didn’t happen, the two beautiful little girls looking bored and frustrated at the lack of results ended up telling the story of the election night better. We photographed them at your gathering. Were they part of your family? BG: That’s my niece, Annabelle, in the back and that’s her friend with her. And you know, (grabbing a copy of last Tuesday’s paper and opening it to A-3) this picture here that says,“a Brian Gallant supporter …”That’s my sister. BM: Oh, OK, I guess you had her support for sure. BG: (Smiling) My family had to pick up five or six extra copies.Annabelle wanted some. So this helped you guys. BM: So they bought copies because of her, not the small matter of you becoming the province’s 33rd premier? That sounds about right. Not counting the software glitch, because that’s too easy,what was the biggest surprise you had in the campaign? BG: One of the things is the crowds who came out. For example, we did an announcement at one point in the definition of rural New Brunswick, on the Coles Island Road,and we had a crowd of 40 people come out to meet the bus. BM: Coles Island, 40 people — so basically you got everybody. BG: (Laughing) Anyway, it was awesome. I think like any political leader I’m sure, you get exhausted. When you see those crowds, it kind of rejuvenates your energy and you get going. BM: On that topic, have you managed eight hours sleep any time recently? BG: I haven’t. No, in the last two months, I don’t think I’ve hit eight hours in a night. Now things are a little bit better. I spent some time with my family on the weekend,though because I wanted to spend time with them, I still didn’t get as much sleep as I could have. BM: But at least you had some family time. I suspect it’s just begun for you, though. I remember after the last provincial election, some of the Liberal MLAs who got elected but found themselves in opposition told me,“Jeez, I’m getting more sleep, some exercise. I’ve lost some weight.”It didn’t sound so bad to be out of power. Nevertheless, I’m sure you didn’t come this far without being in it for the long haul. BG: Absolutely. Nevertheless, I have been trying to get some sleep. I don’t want to burn myself out. But it’s not as much as I probably should be getting. BM: What was the best moment of the campaign? BG: It’s funny. I was asked that the last day of the campaign, the day before the election, and it was actually that day it happened. I got to stand before the Louis J. Robichaud monument in St. Antoine. I have a lot of idols, and certainly one of them in politics would be Louis Robichaud. It was pretty inspiring to be in front of his monument and think that I have the same job as him as head of the Liberal party,vying for the same job.And now I have the other job he had as well. And we had a great crowd there and great supporters. So that was probably one of the better moments, and that was 24 hours before the election. BM: We’ve spoken before about how, despite your early immersion in politics as a young man, you did not grow up in a political family.But last time we sat down for one of these chats,you said your political activity had resulted in them getting more interested. What’s their reaction been to the election? BG: So my father’s reaction the last three years is he’s been engulfed in politics. He’s been to some nominations and he got really into it, which is great. Then my mother over the past two years has been very supportive of course but doesn’t really follow politics. I came home once,and my father said,“Oh,your mother met Ted Fleming at the McDonald’s, and they had a quick chat.” It was all nice, and my father thought that was pretty funny. Then my mother came in, and I said,“So, Mom, I hear you met Ted Fleming,”and she said,“Who?” BM: That just might be why the Liberal leader’s mother and the Tory cabinet minister had such a nice conversation. BG: Fast forward to the night of the election. So my father is pacing back and forth just as nervous as can be and didn’t want to talk to a soul. Because of the delay,the media were trying to talk to some of my family to fill the air,which is fine … BM: Trust me, those were desperate hours for us. BG: … my family just by nature wouldn’t be very excited about doing that. My brother stepped up to the plate and he got to suck it up and did an interview. But my mother was the only one of the family just walking around looking to do interviews. She really enjoyed it and she seemed to like talking about the past. I like to think she’s proud of me so obviously she wanted to show that to people. All of this to say my father was in the room, and one reporter came up to one of my main organizers on the ground and asked,“Do you know if Brian’s father is here? We would like to interview him” The guy said, “Oh, I don’t know, I haven’t seen him.I’m not sure I would know who he is.”And he’s looking around, and my father is standing right next to him. (Afterward), my father said,“I didn’t say a word. I just stood there and stared at them” BM: That’s awesome. That sort of discretion should serve you well, I’d think. So you’re in town today for transition meetings. We all sort of think we know what transition means,but what is it,precisely? BG: It is a lot more work than some people would think. First you have to unwind your campaign.You can’t forget that there’s a campaign that you just went through that you’re sort of turning the keys on. Then obviously you had some people for filling functions during the campaign that will be filling functions in the premier’s office,so you have to figure out that transition. A lot of it’s HR: We have to find out which ministers will take which ministries. We also have to figure out how departments can be divided as well. I want to make some changes. I’ve committed to having fewer ministers, so you want to get a sense in terms of workload of files that will be pulling the minister in one direction and files that will be pulling the minister in different directions. You want to get a feel of all that before you make those decisions. That’s part of the transition. I’m talking to the civil service of course to find out some of that stuff. You obviously need the premier as well because of some things he has to unwind in his government as we’re ramping up.

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