Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Lisa Beare is first NDP cabinet member to be seen with recommended book

To be perfectly honest, I didn't expect any new NDP cabinet ministers to pick up on my reading recommendations earlier this month.

I figured they were all too busy with briefing materials and meetings with senior bureaucrats to have time to even read the article I wrote on July 19, let alone follow its advice.

The article mentioned one or more books that each minister might want to read to gain greater insights into their new portfolio.

Some of the recommendations were straightforward. For example, Health Minister Adrian Dix was urged to read Dr Danielle Martin's Better Now: Six Big Ideas to Improve Health Care for All Canadians.

Environment and Climate Strategy Minister George Heyman's homework assignment was David Boyd's The Optimistic Environmentalist; Progressing Towards a Greener Future.

Others were a bit more obscure.

Much to my surprise, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Lisa Beare appears to have followed the advice.

This morning, her ministerial assistant emailed me a photo of her reading University of Toronto business professor Richard Florida's book about how the creative class is making cities more competitive.

Beare, the MLA for Maple Ridge–Pitt Meadows, was elected to her local school board in 2014. She's also worked as a commercial pilot.

And now it appears she's becoming more literate about how the so-called high bohemians—including tech workers, artists, musicians, and gays and lesbians—are driving economic development in urban centres.

Bravo!