The celebrity rolodex that Kevin Vickers is using to create his platform New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal (Print Edition)·Adam Huras CA|September 02, 2020·08:00am Section: A·Page: A3 Kevin Vickers says he’s got Mark Carney, the former head of two G7 central banks, as an economic policy adviser.

And he has friends where New Brunswick needs them most – on either side of the political spectrum in Ottawa. He name-drops and newly selected Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole in the same breath as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc.

In an editorial board meeting with Brunswick News, the Liberal leader suggested his friends in high places give him an edge.

As a Canadian diplomat, former Sergeant at Arms and former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Vickers suggests he has built a rolodex that can put decision-makers on the phone and New Brunswick in the conversation.

And not just with one federal party.

“I became close friends with Mark Carney,” Vickers answered when asked where he would turn to for economic advice as premier. “During the last several months, I have been in contact with Mark Carney and my good friend (former New Brunswick premier) Frank McKenna.

“Those are people who I really, really trust and get good judgment and great ideas for economic development initiatives.”

Carney, a big name in the economics world, was governor of the Bank of while Vickers was in Ottawa and governor of the Bank of England while the Liberal leader was Canada’s Ambassador to Ireland.

Carney also has Irish citizenship.

Trudeau has most recently enlisted Carney as a sounding board in formulating an economic recovery plan to be announced in a throne speech in Parliament later this month.

Vickers says Carney has also been advising him.

“For example, Mark was telling me, ‘Kevin, the single most important thing you can do for your province is to make sure that everyone has high-speed internet,’” Vickers said. “In Mark’s words, he was telling me, ‘We always thought of New Brunswick as regionalized and isolated, but with COVID-19 the world has become regionalized and isolated.’”

That conversation resulted in one of his largest campaign commitments to date.

Vickers, with the help of the feds, would extend high speed internet to every part of New Brunswick, regardless of the provincial price tag.

“As much as it would take,” he said. “I believe that this is critical.

“This is a key piece of transforming the economy of our province.”

Vickers said he’s also had conversations with Donald Savoie, the Canada Research Chair in public administration and governance at l’Université de , David Campbell, former premier ’s chief economist, and over-the-fiscal-cliff author and economist Richard Saillant.

But he also suggests that he has sway no matter who forms the federal government.

While Premier has forged alliances with conservative premiers, he has also made a consistent habit of criticizing the federal Liberals, to a point Vickers believes is detrimental.

“As a sergeant at arms I was non-partisan,” Vickers said. “Stephen Harper, I knew very well, Jack Layton was a friend of mine. Jim Flaherty, the former finance minister, used to come fishing with me on the Miramichi.

“It’s this background that I come from that I think I’m going to be able to build and work on relationships.”

He added: “I’m going to take that same attitude and same passion, same interpersonal skills that I used in befriending Prime Minister Harper.”

Vickers continued that he has the same relationships as Higgs, and then some.

“( Premier) Jason Kenney and I are still in contact with one another,” Vickers said, of the man who came to New Brunswick during the 2018 provincial election to campaign for Higgs.

“Erin O’Toole, I’ve talked to him throughout his leadership, as well as Peter MacKay,” he added.

“These are all people I consider friends.”

That’s on top of his relationship with “Justin” (Trudeau) and cabinet minister “Dom” Dominic LeBlanc. “I’ve known them for years as well,” he said. “I feel that I’m uniquely positioned, regardless of who’s in power, to bring positive benefits to New Brunswick based on my background and record.”

Both Vickers and Higgs have sparred on the campaign trail of late as to who is the best leader to see New Brunswick capitalize on the potential of small modular reactors.

Higgs has touted a deal signed with the Saskatchewan and governments in December of last year to collaborate on the development of the technology.

New Brunswick is “actively working” with the federal government, the Opportunities Agency and federal politicians on a pan-Canadian roadmap forward for the sector, Higgs said.

Vickers suggests Higgs doesn’t have the contacts to see Ottawa favour New Brunswick on the file, but that he does.

“We are in competition, not only with the world, but with the province of Ontario,” Vickers said. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for our province and we have to really have a solid relationship with whoever is in power in Ottawa to ensure New Brunswick gets this.”