“We are going to make these decisions. We need to make them together. It can be made by 13 people in a cabinet room or they can be made with 750,000 people participating. I prefer the 750,000 people.”
New Brunswick Premier, Brian Gallant, delivered his first State of the Province address last night. I wasn’t able to go because I’m taking an online course on Wednesday evenings, but I caught up with the highlights in the news today and it was definitely the topic of conversation for the day.
The above quote was from the Premier on engagement. And I couldn’t agree more. I’ve never talked to anyone who didn’t have any opinions on governance or in some way, want to get involved – I think most people just feel like nothing will ever change. But I was happy to have my theory that things can and will change (and are always getting better) confirmed by Hans and Ola Rosling in their TED talk, controversially titled ‘how to not be ignorant about the world‘. I liked the theme of optimism that seemed to ring through the speech and I was really happy to hear that Premier Gallant also discussed getting women into more positions of influence in New Brunswick – a great gesture towards parity, continuing on the heels of his commitment and delivery on removing the ‘2-doctor rule’ for access to abortions in New Brunswick.
Something tells me 2015 is just getting started. I like where it’s going. My desktop is currently a quote from anthropologist and author, Zora Neale Hurston: ‘There are years that ask questions, and there are years that answer’. 2015 is going to be the year that answered.
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