Brian Alexander Gallant KC (born April 27, 1982) is a Canadian retired politician who served as the 33rd premier of New Brunswick from October 7, 2014, until November 9, 2018.
Of Acadian and Dutch descent, Gallant practised as a lawyer before winning the Liberal leadership in October 2012, securing the riding of Kent in a by-election on April 15, 2013, shortly followed by his swearing in as Leader of the Opposition.
His first foray into provincial politics came at 24, when he secured the Liberal nomination to run against Premier Bernard Lord in the Progressive Conservative's riding of Moncton East for the 2006 election.
After Graham's resignation as leader of the party, Gallant put himself forward to succeed him, winning against former justice minister Mike Murphy and dairy farmer Nick Duivenvorden in its 2012 leadership election.
[8] After a successful by-election run in Graham's former riding of Kent, where he gained a commanding lead, Gallant was sworn into the Legislative Assembly on April 30, 2013, making him Leader of the Opposition to David Alward's PC government.
[7] Heading into the 2014 election campaign, Gallant pushed a $900 million package of infrastructure spending over six years as a way to create 1,700 jobs for a province with one of the country's worst unemployment rates.
[12] On an election night marred by technical glitches with the voting tabulators, the Liberals won a majority and formed the government in the 58th New Brunswick Legislature with Gallant as Premier on October 7, 2014.
[13] During his government's mandate the province's economy and exports grew each year;[14] the unemployment rate which was hovering around 10% was reduced to just over 7%;[15] in 2016 KPMG found that three of the four most cost competitive cities in which to do business in Canada and the United States were in New Brunswick;[16] one of the most vibrant cybersecurity clusters in North America was developed in New Brunswick's capital city; and the province saw its first budget surplus in a decade.
Just two years later, however, due largely to an influx of immigrants and non-permanent residents, the province's population grew to a record high surpassing 770,000 people for the first time.
With this in mind, the Gallant government took concrete action to protect the environment including by creating the “Transitioning to a Low Carbon Economy” plan which commits to historic measures to fight climate change.
The 2018 provincial election resulted in Gallant's Liberals winning only 21 seats compared to Blaine Higgs and the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick who won 22.
In May 2021 he appeared on Ici Radio-Canada's literary debate show Le Combat des livres, advocating for Jean Babineau's novel Infini.