ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Andrew Furey will be the 14th premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Furey won a closer-than-expected contest for leader of the Liberals against challenger John Abbott, with Furey securing 26,443 points in the leadership election to Abbott’s 13,557.
“Thank you to the supporters of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador who’ve entrusted me with this honour, to be your leader. I’m truly, truly humbled,” Furey said in his acceptance speech.
“This was an unusual race, given the pandemic, but I’m so grateful for friends, dedicated volunteers, supporters and everyone who made a call or did a virtual door knock on my behalf.”
From here, Furey awaits an invitation from Lt.-Gov. Judy Foote for the next step to becoming premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
“My inspiration in taking on this momentous honour is what gives me energy and support for what I do every single day: that’s my brilliant wife, Allison, and my beautiful children, Maggie, Rachel and Mark.”
Furey says his first phone call after the result was announced was to his father, George Furey, the Speaker of the Senate of Canada.
“I’m curious to know what he’ll say to me, but it’s no secret my dad is a mentor and we’re very close,” Furey said.
“Some fathers and sons share hockey stories and sports stories, but I grew up on my dad’s knee in the political realm. I look forward to continuing to have his advice and mentorship.”
Furey will take the leadership of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador at an extraordinary time in its history. The province is staring down a $2.1-billion deficit, driven by low oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In his acceptance speech, Furey called for an end to the boom-and-bust cycle that has plagued this province, saying what this province did with oil and gas expertise, it must now do with the technology sector.
“It’s our core competence: we rely on natural resources, whether its oil and gas or the fishery in the past, we’ve seen before the boom-and-bust cycle. We need to make sure that we move beyond natural resources, towards a sustainable, diversified economy,” said Furey.
“I’ve said many times throughout the campaign that I think our creativity as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians lends us to be very successful in the technology sector.”
Furey had no policy to announce as his first action as premier. Rather, he has a meeting with the Department of Finance to get a full understanding of just how far below the surface the bow is for the province.
“We were all privy to the economic update … but I want to get in and get a healthy understanding, full knowledge of where we are and what can be done,” he said.
Furey said he hasn’t considered how long he will wait to call the next election, to get a seat in the House of Assembly.
“I’ll take the first seat available.”
Abbott calls for audit
The premier-to-be was elected by 21,000 voters of the 34,000 registered voters in the Liberal leadership race.
Abbott has called for an independent audit of the election results. In a news release, Abbott described his campaign team finding people on the voters’ list who had died.
“Members of my campaign team had the misfortunate of calling registered voters only to find they had died before the process of electing a new leader had begun. Telephone number after telephone number were found to be no longer in service,” read the release.
“Many of the people we called from the list of registered voters provided by the party had no idea how they got to be on the list, as they had never registered. How are these people on the list of registered voters?”
Speaking with reporters, Abbott says he does not believe the issues could amount to a reversal of the election results.
“Through the whole campaign period there were issues we identified with the internal electoral process for the Liberal party for the next leader. As late as last night I was on the phone talking to prospective voters and realized there’s still a lot of issues,” Abbott said.
“PIN numbers were not in their hands, those kinds of things. We felt really, now that the vote is in, we have a new leader, but let’s look at the process so that for future elections we have a much more transparent and cleaner system.”
“Mr. Abbott is entitled to his objections,” Furey said.
“Any time you run a virtual campaign, it’s the same as the last time, there are problems with people getting PINs and accessing emails. It goes to your junk mail and those kind of things. We worked through it as a team.”
Ball bids farewell
After five years in the province’s highest office, Premier Dwight Ball said farewell to the premier’s office from Deer Lake.
“I was feeling a little nervous there, counting the number of speakers. I had five men there, I’m thinking, is this just a tribute? I’m stepping down from premier, it’s not a funeral. I’m not looking for six pallbearers,” Ball said with a laugh.
Ball thanked the people of the province for their support during his time in office.
He said it was a difficult decision to step down as premier, but there was a moment when he knew he made the right decision.
“To my mother, my mentor, to Sharon and to Jade, who stood by my side for every step of this political journey, I say thank you,” said an emotional Ball.
“I am ready for the next chapter, whatever that may be. Last week, my decision was reinforced when I was walking along with (granddaughter) Antonia, she reached up to hold my hand. Once again, I knew that now is the right time.”
Ball will remain as MHA for Humber-Gros Morne until the next election is called, at the pleasure of premier-designate Furey.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
