ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Premier Andrew Furey doesn’t have a definitive date for a new cabinet to be announced but it will be soon.
“I want to do it as quickly as possible with the benefit of having some time to reflect,” Furey said Tuesday morning.
His top priorities remain the same as indicated in his victory speech Saturday — the three crises affecting the province right now: public health and the pandemic being one, tackling the economic situation, and solving the demographic dilemma.
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Furey also said he spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday and after friendly congratulations, they reiterated their desire to work together.
That includes working on the Muskrat Falls file and the help the province needs to deal with the cost of it so that ratepayers don’t bear the burden.
He also said they discussed early childhood education and development — the province announced $25-a-day daycare last year and Furey wants to get that to a lower rate.
Furey also said he and Trudeau are aligned on addressing issues surrounding pharmacare and long-term care.
“I think it’s safe to say we need to look at long-term care provincially and nationally,” Furey said, adding there have not just been gaps exposed, but gigantic craters throughout the country.
He said the pandemic has revealed a need to implement a cohesive set of standards.
As for the report of the economic recovery team led by Dame Moya Greene, he spoke to her Monday and it’s on schedule to be completed sometime during April, with work still to do at this point.
Furey described it as moving along quite nicely.
“I am very interested in rolling up my sleeves." — Andrew Furey
He reiterated there will be public consultations after its release, which will take some time.
No single budget will fix the scenario the province is in, Furey said, noting the need for stimulus to get out of the global pandemic.
During the 10-week election campaign, Furey said the province needs to restructure its debt and find lower interest rates on the global market and he’s investigating all options available.
Debt payments are the second largest budget line item after health, Furey noted, adding it comes before a teacher can be paid, a road paved or social services programming administered.
“I am very interested in rolling up my sleeves,” he said.
Electoral reform is still on tap, as well. Any changes to the leadership at Elections NL are the responsibility of the House of Assembly, Furey said, when asked about who decides the fallout of the problem-plagued election.
Barb Sweet is The Telegram's senior reporter.
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Twitter: @BarbSweetTweets
