Last week, Premier Susan Holt launched her weekly livestreamed press conferences on her government’s tariff “action plan.”

New Brunswickers got to know the media room Holt was using — and the image of leadership in crisis — during Blaine Higgs’s frequent pandemic briefings, fed into laptop computers and smartphones.

The premier instead adopted the role of therapist-in-chief, pledging to use the weekly briefing to respond to questions sent to her office by anxious, frustrated New Brunswickers.