Tech executive, former adviser to Brian Gallant running for Liberal leadership

The first woman to ever run for the leadership of the New Brunswick Liberal Party has confirmed she'll join the race soon.

Susan Holt, who was a top adviser to Liberal premier Brian Gallant, will become the fifth official candidate in the contest.

Holt turned down an interview request Monday but said in a message that she could confirm a launch "within the next two weeks."

Last Friday,CBC News obtained an invitation to a virtual meeting with Holt this Wednesday.

It described the meeting as a chance for participants to learn about "her fresh approach to leadership and politics as she campaigns to become the first female Liberal leader, and first female Premier for New Brunswick."

Holt would replace Kevin Vickers, who resigned as Liberal leader on election night in 2020 after the party won only 17 of 49 seats in the legislature.

The other candidates are former cabinet minister Donald Arseneault, former MP T.J. Harvey, current Shediac Bay-Dieppe MLA Robert Gauvin, and Saint John-area businessperson Seamus Byrne.

No other woman has ever run for the provincial Liberal leadership, though Saint John Liberal MLA Shirley Dysart was interim leader of the party in 1985. The Progressive Conservatives elected their first female leader, Barbara Baird-Filliter, in 1989.

Holt is now the "chief growth officer" at Plato Testing and PQA, two Fredericton software testing companies.

She was also president of the New Brunswick Business Council, which represents the top CEOs in the province, and held a top position with the jobs board secretariat when the Gallant Liberals were in power.

She then ran for the Liberals in Fredericton South in the 2018 election, placing a distant second to Green Party Leader David Coon.

When Holt declared for the nomination earlier that year, Progressive Conservatives accused Gallant of switching her from the non-partisan jobs board position to a political staff role so she could avoid rules that prohibit civil servants from partisan involvement.

The Liberals said she was complying with the rules, and Holt said at the time she was "moving from policy to policy and assessing what rules apply, and abiding by those rules that are appropriate to the circumstances."

Because the switch coincided with her maternity leave, Gallant said the PC criticism might discourage other women from running for office.