Andrew John Furey (born July 1975) is a Canadian politician and surgeon who has served as the 14th

premier of Newfoundland and Labrador The premier of Newfoundland and Labrador is the first minister and head of government for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Since 1949, the premier's duties and office has been the successor to the ministerial position of the pri ...

since August 19, 2020. A member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party, Furey represents

Humber-Gros Morne Humber-Gros Morne is a provincial electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador. As of 2011 there are 12,509 people living in the district. Humber-Gros Morne includes part of the former district of St. Barbe and most of the former district of ...

in the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

. As of 2022, he is the only premier of a province whose government is controlled by the Liberal Party.

Early life and career

Andrew John Furey was born and raised in St. John's in July 1975. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) and graduated from the MUN School of Medicine in 2001. He would later accept a Fellowship in orthopedic trauma from

R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (also referred to simply as Shock Trauma) is a free-standing trauma hospital in Baltimore, Maryland and is part of the University of Maryland Medical Center. It was the first facility in the world to treat shock. ...

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, U.S., from 2006–2007, before returning to Newfoundland to practise medicine at his own clinic. He was later named Memorial University of Newfoundland's Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and became a recipient of the Ignatian Spirit Award in 2015. He also completed a diploma in organizational leadership from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

that same year. In 2017, Furey was named the

Canadian Red Cross The Canadian Red Cross Society ()2010 earthquake. By 2013, the organization assisted hundreds of patients a week in Port-au-Prince,

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

, with Furey often personally leading the missions there. The organization's efforts were temporarily halted in 2019 due to safety concerns amid rising violence in the country. Furey also co-founded the "A Dollar a Day" foundation alongside singer-songwriter

Alan Doyle Alan Thomas Doyle (born May 17, 1969) is a Canadian musician and actor, best known as the lead singer of the Canadian folk rock band Great Big Sea. Life and career Alan Doyle was born and raised in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, in a Roman Cath ...

and businessman Brendan Paddick, which aims to provide funding for mental health initiatives in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. In addition to this, Furey also serves as the co-chair for the Jack Hand Foundation. In 2020, Furey released a book, ''Hope in the Balance: A Newfoundland Doctor Meets a World in Crisis'', discussing his experiences in

Political career

Furey first expressed interest in entering politics in 2015, saying that his work with Team Broken Earth "left me with a want and desire to do more". Speculation that Furey was being pitched to replace incumbent Premier

Dwight Ball Dwight Ball (born December 21, 1957) is a Canadian politician who was the 13th premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from December 14, 2015, to August 19, 2020, and an MHA. He represented the electoral district of Humber Valley in the Newfoundla ...

emerged as early as 2017. When Ball announced his eventual resignation in February 2020, Furey quickly became a potential contender and was almost immediately regarded as the frontrunner to succeed him. Furey announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party on March 3, 2020 in St. John's, and he was swiftly endorsed by the majority of Ball's cabinet. On August 3, 2020, he was elected leader at the party's convention, receiving approximately two-thirds of votes cast. On August 19, 2020, Furey was formally sworn in as Premier, along with his provincial cabinet. As Furey did not hold a seat in the legislature, he announced on September 7, 2020 that he would contest the by-election for Ball's former seat of

. On October 6, 2020 Furey won the by-election in Humber-Gros Morne. On January 15, 2021, Furey asked for consent from Lieutenant Governor

Judy Foote Judy May Foote ( Crowley; born June 23, 1952) is a Canadian former politician, 14th and current lieutenant governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the first woman to hold the position. Prior to her appointment as viceregal representative ...

to dissolve the House of Assembly to call for an election in order to obtain a stronger mandate in the form of a majority government. The election was originally scheduled for February 13, 2021, but a COVID-19 outbreak in St. John's forced

Elections NL Elections Newfoundland & Labrador is the non-partisan agency in Newfoundland & Labrador, of the legislative assembly charged with running provincial elections. References External links * Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labr ...

to switch to a mail-in election, cancelling in-person voting for all districts. The deadline was set on March 25, 2021, and the results were announced on March 27, 2021, with the Furey government winning a majority government. On December 23, 2021, during the

Omicron variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 first reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa on 24 November 2021. It was first detected in Botswana and has spread to become the ...

outbreak that put over 1,000 health-care workers in isolation, Furey helped administer vaccines to current and retired public service workers and their families at the Confederation Building. Furey then travelled to Labrador, particularly Happy Valley-Goose Bay, on January 3, 2022, to help a team of physicians administer vaccines. Furey then travelled to Bell Island to help administer vaccines on January 13, 2022.

Personal life

Furey resides in Portugal Cove–St. Philip's. He is married to Allison Furey and they have three children: Rachel, Maggie and Mark. His wife works as an emergency physician at the

Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre The Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre is a children's hospital located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Overview The Janeway is the only children's hospital in the province and functions, in partnership with H ...

in St. John's. She was part of a 9-person, federally-funded volunteer team sent to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

to help with surging hospitalizations during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario The COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario is an ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in ...

in April 2021. His father,

George Furey George J. Furey (born May 12, 1948) is a Canadian politician who has served as the speaker of the Senate of Canada since December 3, 2015. Furey was appointed as a senator from Newfoundland and Labrador in 1999 and is the longest-serving member ...

, was named to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jean Chrétien, and currently serves as the

speaker of the Senate of Canada The speaker of the Senate of Canada (french: président du Sénat du Canada) is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada. The speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliament ...

. His uncle,

Chuck Furey Charles "Chuck" Furey (born March 6, 1954) is a Canadian former politician, who represented the electoral district of St. Barbe in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly from 1985 to 2000. The son of Leo Furey and Mary Bruce, he was b ...

, was MHA for St. Barbe and subsequently served as a cabinet minister in the provincial governments of Clyde Wells and Brian Tobin.

Electoral record

, -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Furey, Andrew Living people Canadian orthopedic surgeons Premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador Memorial University of Newfoundland alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians Politicians from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador 1975 births