Election mayhem aside, Premier Andrew Furey says he’ll waste no time getting down to the business of righting the province’s financial ship.

Furey and the Liberal Party emerged with 22 seats — just enough for a majority in the 40-seat House of Assembly — in the longest provincial election in recent memory.

“We have to put the caretaker government to bed and start governing,” says Furey

Whether it was the thrill of victory or just the relief that it was finally over, there was a distinct bounce in Furey’s step and confidence in his words minutes after the unofficial results were posted online.

The premier says his first acts will be to form a cabinet and open the House of Assembly to make sure the bills and government employees are paid on time.

The Premier re-elect. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/J4UM3TD8vf

— Brian Callahan (@briancallahan67) March 27, 2021

After that, it’ll be all about loosening the chokehold that a certain hydro project has on the province. Furey says, “we can’t do anything until we fix the boondoggle of Muskrat Falls.”

He reiterated that no one could have predicted what unfolded over the past 10 weeks and that in his mind the election was fair and legitimate. Furey says now it’s full steam ahead, regardless of whether the election results or the process itself ends up in court.

That said, he’s promising a full review of the election and its failings, not the least of which was the inability of Indigenous voters to cast ballots in their own language.

When asked about what the future holds for the public service, Furey repeated his stance that now’s not the time to cut jobs.

Rather, he said all hands will have a say in how the province digs its way out of the current fiscal crisis.

He says, “Sure there’s tough decisions. But tough decisions can be made collectively with the best interests of the province in mind for the long term.”