Online Conference And Podcast Series Aims To ‘Re-imagine’ N.B.
A new virtual conference and podcast series by the New Brunswick Business Council and nine other economic development, business and community organizations aims to re-imagine New Brunswick post Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 made space for the sort of bold action that’s difficult in normal times,” NBBC CEO Adrienne O’Pray said in a release. “The groups that have organized this series of events see, in the unanticipated disruption caused by the pandemic, a once-in-a-century opportunity to re-imagine our province.”
Called Turning Point: Recovery and Reimagination in New Brunswick, the series will include eight virtual conferences and related podcasts in both official languages over four weeks.
All of them will feature leading economists and a panel of experts from the public and private sectors. The first conference on May 28 will feature Premier Blaine Higgs and economist Richard Saillant speaking about the province’s fiscal realities.
The series will also explore regional collaboration, the New Brunswick economy, demographics and the labour market, education and jobs, strategic sectors, entrepreneurship, and social sectors.
Turning Point aims to engage as wide a spectrum of voices as possible to design a province that’s economically, socially, and environmentally strong and inclusive.
Turning Point aims to design a sustainable roadmap for economic and social growth as the province comes out of the Covid-19 crisis.
“We can return, along the beaten path, to life mostly as we knew it, to a province plagued by the same deeprooted and systemic concerns,” Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick president Marie Chamberland said in the release. “Or, we can use this as a watershed moment to forge a new path together.”
Other organizations involved include Canadian Manufacturers and Exports – N.B., TechImpact, New Brunswick Multicultural Council, Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, and the Pond-Deshpande Centre at UNB.
The organizations will work together to develop one-page summaries with action points for each of the eight themes, and will then present them to the provincial government and other public policy groups.