Furey resignation a bombshell in N.L., political scientist says

A political scientist says Premier Andrew Furey's resignation serves as a bombshell in provincial politics that might be felt across the rest of Canada.

"It loosely reminds me of what just happened with Chrystia Freeland stepping down, and it's the antithesis of what happened with Justin Trudeau," Alex Marland, a political scientist at Acadia University, told CBC News Tuesday.

"This is the case of a premier who is relatively popular, who had a good chance of locking down a majority government in an election this year, who just signed a major deal involving energy [with] Quebec to undo all sorts of legacy issues with Churchill Falls. This is a real shock for a lot of us."

Furey announced his resignation at a quickly organized surprise press conference on Tuesday afternoon in St. John's, telling the province he couldn't commit to another full term with an election penciled for the fall.

The announcement comes about a week after the resignation of Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King.

Marland says the two can be connected in their short-terms as relatively popular premiers, but it will be up to Furey to share his true intentions with the province in time.

"Whether he can explain properly now or it's going to take years to figure out, nobody can know these things except for the people in the positions themselves," Marland said.

"I don't think people fully appreciate the amount of pressure and strain that they're under. And if they say they're leaving because they have other things they want to do and they've had enough, I believe them."

Charlie Byrne, a director at Global Public Affairs, says he was caught off guard on Tuesday.

"This is certainly a surprise. I think a lot of people in Newfoundland and Labrador were expecting that the premier would call a general election in a very near term, and there was no doubt that it was on his mind," Byrne told CBC News Network Tuesday.

"I guess, at the end of the day, he made a decision that right now was the time for him to announce that he was resigning."

The premier said Tuesday that he had accomplished what he planned, and Byrne said Furey will be remembered for those accomplishments — like navigating the province through the COVID-19 pandemic, establishing an office in Ukraine to help people flee the Russian invasion, the entombing of an unknown soldier and a new Churchill Falls deal with Quebec.

"There's been a lot that he has taken on over the last five years," Byrne said. "It's something that maybe other premiers haven't been able to do in such a short amount of time."

However, Furey's departure comes at a time of economic instability in Canada, fuelled by potential economic tariffs on the mind of U.S. President Donald Trump that could be hammered in as soon as Tuesday.