News release

Marilla Stephenson to Support Work of oneNS Coalition

Planning and Priorities

Well-known, former Chronicle Herald columnist Marilla Stephenson is joining the Office of Planning and Priorities to support the work of the oneNS Coalition.

"It's not often that you have an opportunity to bring someone on with the breadth of skills, and level of experience and passion that Marilla Stephenson brings," said Bernie Miller, deputy minister, Office of Planning and Priorities. "She holds extensive knowledge about the issues affecting our province, and understands better than most the importance of working collaboratively to address them. We are very pleased she will be joining our team."

The oneNS Coalition is a 15-member volunteer committee with representation from the private, public, post-secondary, and non-profit sectors. It is actively working to foster broad-based, collective action in response to the oneNS Commission (Ivany) report and develop a 10-year strategic plan to meet its goals. This work is aimed at building a better future for Nova Scotia by addressing key economic and demographic challenges.

A critical part of the work involves outreach to stakeholders, coming to common agreement on the issues and their solutions, and working in a co-ordinated, collective fashion to address them.

Ms. Stephenson will support the work of the oneNS Coalition on an 18-month personal services contract. She will be involved primarily in strategic planning, increased efforts to reach out to and work closely with stakeholders, and work to move the project forward.