East Meets West: New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant talks economic opportunities
The Honourable
Brian Gallant
Join The Vancouver Board of Trade for a keynote address by the Honourable Brian Gallant, Premier of New Brunswick.
In his address to B.C.'s business community, Gallant will share insights on how New Brunswick is working to create jobs, help families, address financial challenges, and seize economic opportunities. Gallant will discuss how his government is working to spur economic growth, diversify energy exports, reach new global markets overseas, and chart a new path forward with the newly elected government in Ottawa — themes that are just as relevant here on the West Coast as they are on the East Coast.
About the Speaker
Brian Gallant is New Brunswick's 33rd Premier. At age 32, he is the youngest elected premier in Canada in the last two centuries.
Growing up, Gallant's parents worked in grocery stores and fast food restaurants around New Brunswick to provide for their three children.
Determined to pursue a postsecondary education, Gallant started and operated two small companies to pay for his university education. At the Université de Moncton, he completed a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Laws. He also earned a Master of Laws degree from McGill University.
Gallant practised law with the firm Stewart McKelvey in the areas of corporate and commercial law. He later joined the Veritas Law firm in Dieppe as a partner.
Gallant was elected Leader of the New Brunswick Liberal Party on October 27, 2012, at a leadership convention that saw a record number of convention voters cast a ballot. He was first elected to the province's Legislative Assembly in a by-election for the riding of Kent in April 2013, and was sworn in as Leader of the Official Opposition.
In the September 2014 general election, Gallant offered and won the seat in his home riding, Shediac Bay-Dieppe. On October 7, he was sworn in as Premier, President of the Executive Council, Chair of the New Brunswick Jobs Board, Minister responsible for Innovation, Intergovernmental Affairs, Women's Equality and Rural Affairs.
Since then, his government has focused on its efforts to create jobs, improve finances and support families in the province.