Ten economic development, business, and community development organizations from across New Brunswick will present a virtual conference and podcast series designed to reimagine New Brunswick in a post-pandemic world.
 

Turning Point: Recovery and Reimagination in New Brunswick will consist of eight virtual conferences and related podcasts in both English and French over a four week period. The first conference will be held this Thursday on the province’s fiscal realities and will feature Premier Blaine Higgs and economist Richard Saillant.
 

All eight conferences will feature leading economists and a panel of public and private sector experts. The series will be big on interaction with conference attendees. The goal of the series is to design a sustainable roadmap for economic and social growth as New Brunswick emerges from the pandemic.
 

“COVID-19 made space for the sort of bold action that’s difficult in normal times,” said Adrienne O’Pray, CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council, one of the series partners. “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 reimagine our province.”
 

Other themes to be explored in the series will be regional collaboration, the New Brunswick economy, demographics and the labour market, education and jobs, strategic sectors, entrepreneurship, and social sectors.
 

The goal of the virtual conferences and podcasts is to engage as wide a spectrum of voices as possible, and design a reimagined New Brunswick that is economically, socially, and environmentally strong and inclusive.
 

At the end of the process, the 10 organizations will collaborate to develop one-page summaries with action points for each of the eight themes. These will be presented to the provincial government and other public policy groups.
 

Marie Chamberland, president of Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, sees Turning Point as a rare opportunity.
 

« We can return, along the beaten path, to life mostly as we knew it, to a province plagued by the same deep-rooted and systemic concerns, » she explained. “Or, we can use this as a watershed moment to forge a new path together.”
 

The series debuts this Thursday, May 28 at 9 a.m. with the fiscal realities virtual conference. Registration is now open on the event’s website: www.turningpointnb.ca.
 

Besides the N.B. Business Council and Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick, other partners presenting the initiative are: Canadian Manufacturers and Exports – N.B., TechImpact, New Brunswick Multicultural Council, Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, and the Pond-Deshponde Centre at UNB.
 

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Media are invited to register and follow the sessions.
 

For more information or to arrange an interview with expert guests and speakers, contact:

Adrienne O’Pray, President and CEO, New Brunswick Business Council

Phone: 506-962-2575; adrienne.opray@nbbc-cenb.ca

Marie Chamberland, Présidente, Conseil économique du Nouveau-Brunswick

Phone: 506-857-3143, presidente@cenb.com

Alex LeBlanc, Executive Director, New Brunswick Multicultural Council

Phone: 506-440-8689; alex.leblanc@nbmc-cmnb.ca